Sports Apparel - Publications - Faculty & Research

March 2023 (Revised May 2025)
Case

On

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Karolin Frankenberger and Sascha Mader

Founded in 2010, in just one decade, the Swiss company On had established itself as a main player in global sports footwear and apparel. Based on an unconventional strategy which one of the founders labeled as “obsessively distinct,” On grew its sales with a compound... View Details

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February 2019 (Revised January 2021)
Case

Quiksilver Inc. and Oaktree Capital Management

By: Kristin Mugford and Mike Harmon

Sports lifestyle company Quiksilver filed for bankruptcy in September 2015. Oaktree is considering an additional investment in the company to facilitate the restructuring. Students must consider whether Oaktree should invest given the risks of the turnaround... View Details

Keywords: Bankruptcy; Bankruptcy Reorganization; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Acquisition; Restructuring; Debt Securities; Transformation; Decision Making; Borrowing and Debt; Investment Return; Crisis Management; Negotiation; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; France; United States

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August 2012
Case

Polar Sports, Inc.

By: W. Carl Kester and Wei Wang

Polar Sports, Inc. is a fashion skiwear manufacturing company in Littleton, Colorado. The company has a unique design for skiwear using a special synthetic material that improves insulation and durability. The ski apparel industry is highly competitive and the best way... View Details

Keywords: Production; Decision Choices and Conditions; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Finance; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Colorado

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June 1981 (Revised May 1988)
Case

L.L. Bean, Inc.: Corporate Strategy

By: Hirotaka Takeuchi

L.L. Bean, Inc., a Maine-based manufacturer and mail-order retailer of sporting goods and apparel, has grown from $3 million in sales (1967) to over $120 million (1980). Current projections predict an annual compounded growth of 25% through 1985. Management must decide... View Details

Keywords: Globalization; Growth and Development; Growth Management; Production; Quality; Sales; Situation or Environment; Corporate Strategy; Internet and the Web; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry

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26 Apr 2024
HBS Case

Deion Sanders' Prime Lessons for Leading a Team to Victory

After retiring from playing sports in 2006, Sanders became a commentator and then moved into football coaching. In 2020, he took over at Jackson State University in Mississippi, joining a losing program whose budget was one-thirtieth of... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman; Sports

15 Sep 2009
First Look

First Look: September 15

http://harvardbusiness.org/search/510030/ Eddie Bauer (A) Harvard Business School Case 110-008 In June 2005, Eddie Bauer, the specialty apparel retailer, emerged from bankruptcy. Under the plan of reorganization former creditors converted... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

May 2013 (Revised March 2014)
Case

Benetton Group S.p.A., 2000

By: John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

In 2000, Benetton was one of the leading mass fashion competitors in the world with approximately $1.9 billion in sales across 5,500 stores in 120 countries. But the company's fortunes seemed to be on the wane. Operating profits had fallen 9% from the prior year to... View Details

Keywords: Fashion; Strategic Change; Strategic Management; Globalized Firms and Management; Marketing Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Performance Consistency; Management Teams; Strategy; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Italy

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19 Jul 2011
First Look

First Look: July 19

market for football apparel and footwear in 1994 to a formidable competitor to Adidas in 2008 (with revenues of over $1 billion for the sport). The case traces how Nike has gone about making this transformation and its activities at each... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

27 Sep 2018
Research & Ideas

Religion in the Workplace: What Managers Need to Know

communicated so people on the front line don’t have to decide how to work through these issues and make things up in the moment.” Muslim headscarf meets retailer’s dress code Sporting goods retailer Abercrombie & Fitch, founded in... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Apparel & Accessories; Apparel & Accessories

December 2018 (Revised September 2019)
Case

Brand Activism: Nike and Colin Kaepernick

By: Jill Avery and Koen Pauwels

Nike's selection of politically polarizing Colin Kaepernick as the spokesperson for the 30th anniversary of its iconic "Just Do It" campaign catapulted the brand into the media spotlight and made it a political flashpoint for consumers across America. Would the choice... View Details

Keywords: Digital Marketing; Entertainment; Politics; Activism; Brand Equity; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Brands and Branding; Marketing Communications; Sports; Advertising; Social Media; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; United States; North America

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16 Jun 2020
Research & Ideas

Your Customers Have Changed. Here's How to Engage Them Again.

management and digital marketing tools for entertainment venues and sports teams (largely unused during the pandemic), switched to targeting small- and medium-sized traditional businesses struggling to survive. Fourth Quadrant: Firms... View Details

Keywords: by Rohit Deshpandé, Ofer Mintz, and Imran S. Currim; Retail; Service

July–August 2014
Article

Sustainability in the Boardroom: Lessons from Nike's Playbook

By: Lynn S. Paine

One surprising role of Nike's corporate responsibility committee is to provide support for innovation. More and more companies recognize the importance of corporate responsibility to their long-term success—and yet the matter gets short shrift in most boardrooms,... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Corporate Accountability; Globalized Firms and Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Sports Industry

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August 2019
Case

Apex Ski Boots

By: Kate Barasz and John T. Gourville

Apex Ski Boots has introduced a new ski boot that, due to its radical design, is meeting resistance in the marketplace from many retailers, ski experts, and consumers. The company must decide how best to drive sales in the face of this resistance. View Details

Keywords: Go-to-market Strategy; Strategic Change; Marketing Strategy; Distribution Channels; Sales; Change Management; Sports Industry; Sports Industry

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September 2013 (Revised August 2015)
Background Note

Leadership and Teaming

By: Ethan Bernstein

Small differences in the leadership of teams can have large consequences for the success of their efforts. Many initiatives fail not because of a fatal error in judgment or insufficient ideas, knowledge, motivation, or capabilities to deliver a solution. They fail... View Details

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June 2019
Teaching Note

Michael Rubin and Fanatics (A) and (B)

By: Robert F. Higgins and John Masko

Teaching Note for HBS Nos. 819-077 and 819-082. View Details

Keywords: Fanatics; Licensed Merchandise; Sports; Internet and the Web; Vertical Integration; Expansion; Strategy; Sports Industry; Sports Industry; United States

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August 1988 (Revised November 1989)
Case

Reebok International Ltd.

By: John A. Quelch

Reebok executives are reviewing the company's advertising and promotion programs for the second half of 1988. These include sponsorship of the 1988 Summer Olympics and a rock concert tour organized by Amnesty International. In addition, Reebok is launching a new... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Music Entertainment; Advertising Campaigns; Sports; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry

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20 Jul 2015
Research & Ideas

Globalization Hasn’t Killed the Manufacturing Cluster

shoemakers in Italy among other industries to understand why manufacturing clusters still survive. ©iStock.com/panpipe The two shoe clusters studied are physically only 50 kilometers apart, but worlds apart in their success. The sports... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Apparel & Accessories; Apparel & Accessories; Apparel & Accessories

24 Apr 2006
Research & Ideas

Managing Alignment as a Process

men's outdoor shoes and clothing had become saturated. A comprehensive strategy review revealed that the Sport-Man brand could be extended to other apparel lines. Furthermore, its retail footprint in major malls throughout the United... View Details

Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan & David P. Norton; Apparel & Accessories; Apparel & Accessories; Apparel & Accessories; Apparel & Accessories

February 2013
Case

18 Months in a Startup: Zaggora.com

By: Tom Nicholas

The founders of Zaggora reflected back on a tumultuous year-and-a-half in which they had generated, from just $40,000 in personal savings, a multi-million dollar sportswear enterprise selling Hotpants to women. These were hotpants not of the 1960s hipster variety, but... View Details