AS
Our take
Amer Sports has become the rare conglomerate in athletic and outdoor with real brand heat, with Arc'teryx doing much of the heavy lifting. Ambitious multi-year goals now ask a niche mountain brand to grow like few brands ever have. We focus on whether that growth can come without diluting the very exclusivity that built it.
Updated: September 8, 2026
Heavy discounting of Arc'teryx footwear at retailers like REI is the first real warning sign; the rest of Amer looks healthy.
Store checks at athletic retailers in Hong Kong and Japan: HOKA, On and Arc'teryx look strong while Nike is heavily discounted in Japan.
Why conglomerates usually fail in athletic brands, why Amer is different, and the case for Amer bidding for Lululemon.
Arc'teryx's five-year growth targets have no historical precedent, though we see little risk to the story over the next year.
Fourth semi-annual mall channel check: softer traffic, tighter promotions, and who is winning in athleisure.
Kicking the tires before Amer's investor day: strong brand momentum, but insider selling and aggressive store growth raise flags.
Best quarterly growth rate as a public company. Must admit, was expecting law of large numbers to eventually start catching up to them at some point but seems the opposite is occurring.
Women's and footwear up roughly 40% or more. They had strong double-digit growth in Veilance – I certainly hope so given Arc’teryx store count is up approximately 30%.
