Brands Briefing: Athleisure brands eye opportunities in tennis, pickleball, equestrian gear and more

The shift is the latest example of how athleisure brands are adapting to consumer habits. In a phenomenon seen during the pandemic, more people are getting into outdoor sports — not only to exercise, but also to socialize and learn new skills. In the same way that run clubs have taken off, so, too, have pickleball clinics, padel leagues and guided hikes. Now, as consumers lean into new activities, major brands want to be right there with them — especially when it comes to apparel, footwear and other gear they’ll need.

“We follow our consumer where she’s going and lead her to a new place, as well,” Andrea Perez, global president at FP Movement, told Modern Retail. “If you think of our customer, she’s a woman who lives a full life. She’s not just at the gym and doing pilates. She’s on the court. She’s on the trail. She’s in her city, living a really active lifestyle.”

Two of the biggest performance categories at FP Movement are hike and tennis, both of which launched in 2020. The tennis category, specifically, has grown to more than 50 styles, with popular SKUs including the Advantage Set ($98) and the Pleats and Thank You Tennis Skort ($78). Meanwhile, the hiking category has ballooned to more than 100 items, including the March on Hike Shorts ($78) and In the Wild Hike Skort ($68). Perez shared that the tennis business has grown about 20% year over year, with the hike business up 45%.

“These are among the fastest growing parts of our business,” she said.

Perez attributes the categories’ success to the fact that the gear helps a customer “look and feel like herself.” Offerings come in bright colors like Electric Shock Blue and Green Glow, with high-rise waistbands and soft fabrics. “In tennis, we see a category that has historically asked women to set their personality aside,” Perez said. “It’s a lot of white, a lot of rules [and] very little room for self-expression. We know that tennis players want differently.” Meanwhile, with hiking, Perez said, the customer “wants gear that works great on a trail, but doesn’t make them feel like they’re wearing a uniform.”

FP Movement has developed products with professional athletes, including tennis players Emma Navarro, Sloane Stephens and Sofia Kenin. But it speaks with all types of athletes about their gear — including what they like, don’t like or feel is missing in the space. Many of its conversations happen at FP Movement-hosted run clubs and tennis clinics. For instance, tennis players shared that they preferred to store their balls in a skirt’s lining, rather than its dedicated “tennis pocket.” Hikers, meanwhile, wanted to put their hands in their pockets in a way that didn’t impede their movement. “That shapes how we look at a garment,” Perez said.

Hiking is also popular at Outdoor Voices, an apparel brand that launched in 2013 and went online-only in 2024. The brand offered hiking clothes for years, but it recently stepped up its selection under founder Ty Haney, who left the brand in 2020 and formally returned in 2025. Also in 2025, OV launched equestrian gear, both for English riding and Western riding. It will debut its second equestrian capsule in the next several weeks.

OV’s slogan is “Doing Things,” with clothes designed for “doing things outdoors.” “Building out recreational lifestyle has been core to Outdoor Voices since day one,” Haney told Modern Retail. “When I re-engaged [with OV], it felt appropriate to lean back into that activity-specific way of designing collections and looking at these various activities — not only from the lens of experts, … but also as inspiration to get other people into activities they maybe haven’t done before.”

Haney added, “In a very competitive activewear space, I think it’s a point of differentiation for us, particularly when a lot of brands have this matching set [and] almost gym, yoga, pilates focus.”

Today, hiking is OV’s biggest category, Haney shared, with products including the RecTrek Zip Pants ($148) and TechSweat Move Free Tank ($88). Equestrian has proven popular, too, and quickly sold out last fall. The initial equestrian collection included Ride Pants ($188), a Club Polo shirt ($108) and Cowgirl Jeans ($168). The riding pants “were actually referential of a pair of riding pants that I had worn a lot growing up,” said Haney, a lifelong horse lover.

It hasn’t been difficult for OV to move into various performance categories, Haney said. “Given we’re in the activewear space, all of the products are functional and technical first,” she explained. “It lends itself to the expertise and the precision [you need], when you have to be very specific around, for instance, knee patch placement and the opening of the leg.”

Still, there are challenges in entering new categories, Haney said, including the fact that OV’s products typically sell out. In the future, she wants OV to get to a place where it can regularly roll out new products across activities, like horseback riding. “Really, the intent, as we establish these activities, is to be able to introduce the current season of it continuously,” Haney said.

OV figures out what sports to enter based on a combination of team research, website search terms and community feedback. Next up, it will launch a run collection, geared toward both serious runners and recreational runners. The brand also rolled out new colors for its RecTrek Zip Pants and is considering debuting something within the “holiday skiing timeframe,” Haney shared.

As 2026 continues, brands taking on a larger role in the performance space are eager to contribute to a customer’s “entire active lifestyle,” as FP Movement’s Perez said.

“What’s exciting for us is that the numbers are clear,” Perez said. “In the [performance] categories that we enter, we grow. … The brand, overall, delivered double-digit growth for our last fiscal year. It’s not a coincidence. Our growth happens when we build for a customer that has been underserved and that’s feeling seen.”

What we’re reading

• Everlane will continue to run as an independent brand under Shein, Everlane’s CEO said. (Retail Dive)
• Hoka is opening more stores in international markets like China. (Footwear News)
• Estée Lauder and Puig have abandoned merger talks. (CNBC)

What we’ve covered

• Apparel brands like Pacsun and Faherty are bringing resale into stores — not just online.
• Target’s viral partnerships with Roller Rabbit and Parke are driving growth.
• Buy-now, pay-later usage among middle-income households is up.