General economic conditions
Global economy
According to the winter forecast of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (Kiel Institut für Weltwirtschaft – IfW Kiel) dated 13 December 2023, the global economy held up better than expected in view of the inflation shock and the massive tightening of monetary policy in 2023, even if economic expansion was only moderate. Industrial production and world trade remained without momentum until the end of the year. The experts at IfW Kiel expect global gross domestic product (GDP) to have risen by a total of 3.1% for the past financial year 2023. Major differences in economic momentum were recorded both in the advanced economies and in the emerging markets. With regard to China, IfW Kiel experts note that, by historical comparison, the pace of expansion is still low and that China has largely lost its role as the engine of global economic expansion. In addition, accelerated inflation in Argentina and Turkey had a negative impact on economic development.
Sporting goods industry
The sporting goods industry was faced with various challenges in 2023, which contributed to a difficult market environment. This was mainly due to the sharp rise in inflation, which led to a corresponding negative impact on consumer spending. In addition, excess inventory and sales-promoting measures were unfavourable to industry development.
Major sporting events in 2023, such as the Athletics World Championships in Hungary and the FIFA Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, had a positive effect on the sporting goods industry. To our knowledge, sporting activity and the pursuit of an increasingly healthy and sustainable lifestyle continued to gain in importance for an ever-increasing proportion of the world's population, following the COVID-19 pandemic. Among other things, this resulted in the increased popularity of athletic footwear and leisure/athletic apparel as an integral part of everyday fashion ("athleisure").