The divergence between apparel and footwear sales narrowed considerably this week as apparel rolled while footwear stabilized. The most notable change over last week is the trajectory in apparel, which posted its second consecutive decline in sales after 3-months of consistent growth. Buoyed recently by cold weather apparel, a closer look at recent weather trends reveals an unmistakable reversal in temperatures so far in November that has likely cooled demand. Meanwhile, athletic footwear trends are stabilizing (albeit still weak relative to other categories). Given relative price stability, the implication is that traffic is less bad mirroring what we’ve been hearing recently from retailers. However, it’s still apparent when taking the ICSC weekly retail sales into account that the sporting goods channel continues to underperform.
