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Last year was filled with intense movement in the athletic market — from Nike plowing ahead with an ambitious turnaround effort and Adidas seeing major momentum, to Puma fielding sale rumors and Under Armour parting ways with basketball star Steph Curry as the brand embarks on another restructuring.
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In a year where the Winter Olympics and World Cup take center stage, the wave of change is sure to continue, but which brand will come out on top? Here are the big questions to consider as 2026 commences.
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Nike is the name on everyone’s lips as the year kicks off. In December, the Swoosh reported that it ran into some notable obstacles as it continued its comeback bid in the second quarter.
On the company’s second-quarter earnings call last month, Nike Inc. president and chief executive officer Elliott Hill told analysts that the company is “in the middle innings” of its comeback, adding that various areas of the business are in different phases of turnaround.
“Fiscal year ’26 continues to be a year of taking action to rightsize our classics business, return Nike digital to a premium experience, diversify our product portfolio, deepen our consumer connections, strengthen our partner relationships and realign our teams and leadership,” Hill said last month.
And while significant work still needs to be down to turn around Nike’s Converse and Greater China business units, the company’s stock got a much-needed boost at the end of the year when Hill spent $1 million to acquire 16,388 shares of the company’s class B common stock at $61.10 per share. The move came days after Apple CEO and Nike director Tim Cook purchased 50,000 shares at $58.97, spending nearly $2.95 million in the process.
“Whether intended as investment or signal, it is encouraging to see management and the board putting their money where their mouth is,” Guggenheim analyst Simeon Siegel said last week.
After just three years in the job, Adidas CEO Bjørn Gulden has almost achieved the goals of his initial four-year plan — one year ahead of schedule.
When he took on the job in 2023, Adidas was suffering financially because of a canceled collaboration, the very profitable Yeezy line, with the musician formerly known as Kanye West. In 2025, Gulden said he wanted Adidas to be a “healthy company” by 2026.
In October, the German sportswear giant announced record-breaking results for the third quarter of 2025, achieving the highest sales increase in a quarter in Adidas history. “I feel we are on a good way to being the company that Adidas should be, even if the circumstances are a lot more difficult now than we started talking in 2023,” Gulden said at the time.
The goal for the near future is to stabilize growth and ensure the company is able to maintain numbers like the 10 percent margin on operating profit, he said.
As for the more distant future, Gulden said the company encourages ambitious area managers to work toward making Adidas the number-one sportswear brand in that territory. Was that also his ambition globally?
“Can we be number one in all markets?,” he replied. “Of course not.” Particularly not in the U.S., where Nike has too much of a home market advantage, he added.
“But we should still have the ambition,” the CEO said. “Then we can look in a couple of years at what the score card says.”
Under Armour’s decision to part with basketball star Steph Curry in November sparked a positive reaction from investors.
Seen as being a part of a restructuring plan that will refocus the company, the surprising move could give the company incremental savings in the range of $45 million to $50 million.
William Blair analyst Dylan Carden said in a November note that he is “encouraged” by the company’s action in “getting ahead of future headwinds.”
“The decision to part ways with the Curry brand sits in line with management’s stated goal to elevate [Under Armour] with a tighter assortment of goods sold at full price and with better storytelling to regain customer engagement and brand identity,” Carden wrote.
Jefferies analyst Randal Konik described that restructuring initiatives as founder Kevin Plank moves toward “getting back to basics [and] we like it.” He added that fundamentals and market share losses for Under Armour are “starting to hit bottom” as Plank and the company shift to an elevated focus and discipline and getting back to the core of what made the company special more than 20 years ago.
Nike may be clawing its way back to popularity, but don’t count Hoka and On out. The demand for these two brands remains strong as the industry turns the page to 2026.
Despite some analyst hesitation that the popular running brands may be losing some of their steam in the market, both labels posted stellar earnings in their most recent quarterly reports.
“It’s clear to us On management has decided that a more balanced approach to revenue growth positions the On brand for more durable long-term growth,” Williams Trading analyst Sam Poser wrote in a November note. “The developing commitment to a pull model will position the On brand for the long-term sales and margin growth.”
As for Hoka, it continues to see strength, driven by new styles in Clifton, Bondi and Arahi, which are experiencing strong sell-through in the wholesale channel. And according to Needham analyst Tom Nikic, Hoka’s spring 2026 order book “remains strong” (up year-over-year, with a benefit from new styles in the Mach franchise) and early feedback on the fall 2026 order book is “positive,” Nikic said.
Puma faces a tough road ahead. In October, the company logged a third-quarter sales drop of 10.4 percent as its new CEO Arthur Hoeld also outlined his plans for the turnaround.
The German activewear firm cited a strategic “reset” as it navigates “several company-specific challenges, including muted brand momentum, elevated inventory levels across the trade and low quality of distribution.” This comes as sale speculation has been swirling around the brand for months.
Shares of Puma SE ticked up in September over speculation that its rival Adidas might be interested in acquiring the brand. Two days later, shares of Puma rose again over speculation that brand management firm Authentic Brands Group and private equity firm CVC would be throwing their hats into the ring. And in November, Puma shares popped up again, this time on rumblings that China’s sportswear firm Anta Sports could be eyeing the German athletic brand.
All of this comes as Puma secured more than 600 million euros in fresh financing last month “designed to provide interim liquidity to refinance utilizations of the existing revolving credit facility” worth 1.2 billion euros. “This will allow us to execute on our strategic priorities and our ambition to establish Puma as a top three sports brand globally,” Markus Neubrand, chief financial officer of Puma SE, said in a December statement.
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