Streetwear market

Streetwear is becoming an increasingly large sector in the fashion industry in the world. This clothing style was initiated by the community of skateboarders, surfers, and hip-hop culture. The roots can be traced back to Los Angeles at the end of the last century.

In this article, we present how does the streetwear market look like and what trends shape the market today.

Global streetwear market

According to PWC data, the global streetwear market was estimated at 185 billion dollars in 2019. According to some estimates, this accounts for about 10% of the entire worldwide clothing and footwear market.

Euromonitor International’s data for 2020 shows that overall sportswear sales fell 6% to 77 billion USD due to the pandemic. According to LYST (an apparel search platform), demand for hoodies grew 33% from April to May. The number of searches for baseball caps increased by 49%, and sneakers were the most sought after product category during the pandemic, where searches increased by 267%.

Leaders of the streetwear market

Statista shows that in 2019 the VF Corporation Group (e.g. The North Face, Vans, Supreme) was among the largest players in terms of revenues – 11.7 billion dollars, and PVH (e.g. Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein) – 9.9 billion dollars.

The most popular streetwear brands are Supreme, Palace, Carhartt, Off-white and Nike, according to the RollingStones ranking.

Key acquisitions in the streetwear market

In 2020, there were several important acquisitions by some of the largest players in the streetwear market. It is worth mentioning a few of them:

• Moncler’s purchase of Stone Island for 1.4 billion USD,
• expansion of the VF Corporation group (The North Face, Vans, Timberland) with the Supreme brand for 2.1 billion USD,
• acquisition of Tiffany Co. by LVMH for 15.8 billion USD.

Trends and innovations in the streetwear clothing market

An important trend among clothing manufacturers is reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30% and achieving climate neutrality. Innovations introduced to the market not only shape retail but also contribute to sustainable business.

Anti-smog filtering clothing

A visible trend on the clothing market is the use of innovative fibres and materials with unique properties – for example recycled, filtering, or anti-smog clothing.

Design in digital version

Forecasts indicate that making garments (during the design process) with chalk and ruler will become a thing of the past. As technology advances, it is expected that clothing construction will take place in a digital version.

Virtual collections

An innovation that can surprise many is the so-called virtual clothes that exist only in digital version, and it is enough to have a photo to „put on”. The first collection in such form has already had its premiere (in 2018, the Scandinavian brand Carlings launched a limited collection of digital jackets, coats, T-shirts, and pants). This is a solution for those who are active in social media and want to be featured in fashionable clothing.