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Italian Market: Slow Start to 2022 But The Only Way is Up

Economically this first 4 to 5 months were pretty tough. For business owners there were no other chances to raise prices as nearly everything went up in pricing. For households, it meant a lot more expenses because not only unnecessary goods but also necessary goods and gas, electricity etc went up heavily. To say it in a few words: The struggle is real. Everybody tries to spend less and to save more as the fear of how our future will look like is everywhere.
By Franz Josef Holler

The government and the rule of prime minister Draghi is trying to help families and companies with cheques for low earners and cheaper gas prices for companies, but honestly, it’s only a drop in the ocean.

This unfortunately made it a very tricky first few months of the year for many boardsport retailers. Luckily, we are coming from a very satisfying winter season where hardgoods sold very well, so many had a bit of a buffer. The main problem is less spending power in these first few months and people are now not spending too much on unnecessary goods.

Skate hardgoods slowed down a lot compared to 2021 and especially 2020 where we saw a real boom in hardgood sales. Completes sales are down the most followed by decks. Wheels and trucks are the best-selling hardgood items, those 2 categories are led by American brands like Spitfire, Bones, Thunder, Independent and so on while deck sales are balanced between Euro and US brands.

Giorgio from A criminal G skate shop, Arona can only confirm that hardgood sales have dropped but not the hype around skateboarding which is a positive sign. What’s positive is that skate events are again being planned and held which gives a bit of an upturn and the CIS, Italian Championship of Skateboarding is again in full swing, something the skate community wants and needs.

Sadly traditional skate shoe brands are not seeing big growth numbers yet and when talking to core skate shop owners we all agree that we have reached the bottom line and that from now we should see growth numbers again, skaters who skate on a daily basis are turning back to traditional skate brands like Lakai, Fallen, Ès, etnies etc, which is a good sign and store owners welcome that as those were the brands they grew up with.

Temperatures are already very high in May, reaching over 30 degrees which leads to good shorts and tshirt sales already early in the season but stock levels are overall very high and there are not many brands who really have a hype going right now.

SUP boards are still a thing and with 80% of Italians (a survey revealed) planning to spend their vacation in Italy is a very positive sign for our economy over the next months and gives us a somewhat positive outlook for the second and third quarter of this year.

The last topic for this issue is for skate and surf apparel. The brand mix nowadays varies a lot and nearly every single store from surf, to skate to streetwear has different brands they carry. It’s mostly a mix between skate / streetwear and outdoor brands who are big in demand followed by some local Italian streetwear brands like Propaganda, Octopus, Iuter or Dolly Noire. A brand who constantly stands the test of time is Carhartt which can be found many stores and always delivers good sell through numbers no matter the season or year, a real bank for most retailers nationwide.

Let’s hope for a sunny summer season with many tourists from abroad who will fill our country with life and fun. Everybody is welcome in Italy!