How Salomon Became One of Sneakers' Fastest Growers — While Nike and Adidas Struggle in China

Salomon's second-quarter numbers show a company that has quietly rewritten what an "outdoor" brand can be — and its formula of Sportstyle, DTC epicenters and Chinese retail discipline is landing at the exact moment its biggest rivals are losing ground there.

For most of its history, Salomon meant one thing: skis, boots and bindings for people who cared about groomed alpine runs. That brand is still around. But it is no longer the one paying the bills.

In the second quarter of 2026, parent company Amer Sports reported that its Outdoor Performance segment — the umbrella that houses Salomon footwear and apparel alongside the Salomon, Atomic and Armada hardgoods business — grew 37 percent year-over-year to $569 million, with the gain <cite index="1-49">driven by continued very strong performance in Salomon footwear and apparel</cite>. Winter sports equipment, the division that built the brand, is now a supporting act; Amer Sports executives openly describe it as <cite index="1-51">by far the smallest quarter of the year for the company's Winter Sports Equipment franchises</cite>, even as it holds share in a healthy alpine vacation market.

The footwear and softgoods business, meanwhile, is compounding fast enough that Wall Street has taken notice: Amer Sports' overall second-quarter revenue climbed 32 percent to roughly $1.63 billion, prompting the company to raise its full-year outlook for a second consecutive quarter — the third increase since the original guidance was set — with Outdoor Performance sales growth now expected in a 27 to 28 percent range, up from a prior 22 to 24 percent target, as previously reported.

Five reasons, one CEO

Speaking to analysts, Amer Sports CEO James Zheng laid out what he sees as the engine behind Salomon's run. First is the enduring "Sportstyle" wave — sneakers like the XT-6 and XT-Whisper that have made Salomon a fixture in streetwear rotations far from any trailhead. Reinforcing that push, Salomon in May named Blackpink's Jisoo as its global brand ambassador, a partnership the company has said will extend into <cite index="13-1">product collaborations and creative projects over the long term</cite>. Zheng told analysts the news generated coverage reaching close to a billion consumers across social platforms.

Second is the performance side of the house, where a new gravel-running franchise called GRVL, the July-launched Aero Blaze 4, and a second-generation Genesis trail shoe are helping the brand break into run-specialty retail in North America and Europe — aided by trail runner Courtney Dauwalter's fourth consecutive Hardrock 100 win.

Third, and arguably most consequential given the industry backdrop, is China. Fourth is what Amer Sports calls its "epicenter strategy" — concentrating investment in flagship stores and elevated wholesale doors in cities like Paris, London, Shanghai, Beijing, Tokyo, New York and Los Angeles, with Berlin, Seoul, Miami, San Francisco, Chicago and Boston next in line. Fifth is a still-underpenetrated United States, where Salomon opened its first North American flagship on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan's Flatiron District this quarter and is beginning to add space at Nordstrom, JD Sports and Foot Locker.

Winning in a market where Western sneaker brands are losing

What makes Salomon's China performance notable isn't just the growth rate — it's who isn't growing alongside it. Nike's business in Greater China has fallen for eight consecutive quarters, with the region's overall footprint down roughly 30 percent since 2021 and full-year revenue at an eight-year low, as <cite index="25-2">sales have fallen from the prior year eight quarters in a row, with the overall business shrinking 30% since 2021</cite>. Analysts attribute the slide to a mix of rising local competition from Anta and Li-Ning, slower product localization, and a broader consumer shift toward homegrown "guochao" brands. Adidas has fared better by leaning into local design — Reuters reporting cited by trade press found <cite index="20-4">about 60% of Adidas's China assortment is now locally designed product</cite> — but even Adidas and Arc'teryx (also an Amer Sports brand) posted softer in-store sales in China this spring amid broader consumer caution, according to <cite index="18-2">a South China Morning Post report citing third-party mall foot-traffic data</cite>.

Against that backdrop, Salomon's approach looks almost contrarian: rather than chasing volume, Amer Sports CFO Andrew Page told analysts the company opened 13 net new Salomon shops in Greater China in the quarter — a mix of owned and partner stores — bringing the total to 315 doors, with room to eventually reach 400 to 500. The company plans 45 net new China stores for the full year. Rather than simply adding doors, Page said the strategy also involves upgrading existing locations into larger, more productive formats in top shopping centers; a recent renovation of the brand's best-performing China store, in Shenyang, reportedly delivered a strong opening month. It's a playbook — deliberately smaller footprint, disproportionate investment per door, product tailored to local running and outdoor culture — that echoes what has worked for On Running and Hoka in the same market, brands industry watchers have flagged as quietly building loyal Chinese followings while bigger names retreat.

The channel and margin story

Direct-to-consumer is doing much of the heavy lifting. Outdoor Performance's DTC channel grew 52 percent year-over-year in the quarter — outpacing Amer Sports' companywide DTC growth of roughly 40 percent — while wholesale revenue in the segment still climbed a healthy 25 percent on door expansion and reorders. Comparable sales across owned stores and e-commerce open at least 13 months rose 28 percent.

That mix shift is showing up in profitability. Outdoor Performance's adjusted operating margin expanded 800 basis points year-over-year to 14.6 percent, from 6.6 percent a year earlier, helped in part by a 270 basis-point boost from net tariff refunds but also by genuine gross-margin gains from selling more full-price product through higher-margin DTC channels.

What comes next

Executives were careful to note the U.S. remains, in Page's words, an early-stage opportunity: the country is the largest single sneaker market in the world but still a small piece of Salomon's business, with distribution still catching up to demand. A Beverly Hills store is planned for October as part of an expanding Los Angeles push, and the company expects to open seven to ten new Americas stores this year. In Europe, a new Barcelona shop opened in July alongside continued strength in the Paris and London epicenters.

None of this means Salomon has become a mass brand overnight — its footwear business, while accelerating fast, is still a fraction of the size of Nike's or Adidas's global operations. But the contrast in trajectory is hard to miss: while the two sportswear giants spend 2026 explaining sales declines and consumer disaffection in China, a brand that spent five decades known mainly for ski gear is opening stores, raising guidance, and signing K-pop stars.