2021 TSMA

32 2021 Taiwan Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association Tom Cove President & CEO, SFIA & Vice-President Americas, WFSGI & Member of the Executive Board, WFSGI State of the American Industry The sports and fitness industry’s performance in 2019 was promising at sever- al levels, yet we recognize the obvious, painful reality of the COVID-19 pandem- ic, which has changed every rule, understanding and prediction for the future of our economy, society and industry. The starting point is that overall industry grew by 3.9 percent in 2019, notable in several respects. First, it is the largest annual growth the industry has expe- rienced in 17 years. Second, the 3.9 percent industry growth, when matched against the 2.3 percent annual GDP, reflects a healthy indicator of relative indus- try strength. Typically, when industry growth exceeds GDP by more than a full percentage point, the industry is doing well. At the same time, we note this growth was not shared equally across catego- ries and companies. Top brands captured the lion’s share of the growth, while secondary brands had to work doubly hard to keep up. Struggling companies saw little trickle down from overall industry growth. Athleisure, as it has for some time, continued to dominate footwear and ap- parel and drive sales growth, while performance categories lagged. In terms of sports and fitness participation, we saw several positive signs. Three million more Americans did some sort of physical activity in 2019 than in