Dick’s Getting Into Men’s Athleisure

Dick’s Sporting Goods is looking to gain traction in the $83 billion athleisure market with the launch of an exclusive clothing line. 

On Tuesday, Dick’s announced VRST, a men’s athleisure brand with items that retail between $30 and $120, per CNBC. It’s currently available on Dick’s and VRST websites, and will hit shelves at 400 brick-and-mortar locations in the coming weeks.

“When you see [VRST], it will be a very different product assortment from what we have with our core vendor partners right now, and it is a white space,” Dick’s CEO Lauren Hobart said during an earnings call.

Men’s activewear accounted for 45% of the total men’s apparel market in 2020 compared to 39% in 2019, according to The NPD Group.

The VRST launch follows the success of Calia by Carrie Underwood, an athleisure line that Dick’s launched in 2015. Nike was the only women’s apparel brand that had better sales than Calia at Dick’s in 2020. 

In-house brands, in general, have been lucrative for Dick’s. Last year, Dick’s in-house brands saw $1.3 billion in sales; the company’s total revenue for the year was $9.58 billion.

VRST will compete with Lululemon and many others in the market. Earlier this month, Kohl’s launched in-house activewear line FLX. Target’s in-house athleisure brand All In Motion reported $1 billion in sales in its first year.