HanesBrands has launched its C9 Champion performance athleticwear exclusively with Amazon Fashion worldwide as part of a multiyear agreement following the end of a long-term deal with Target Corp.
The move marks the first time the C9 Champion product line will be sold globally, according to the basic apparel and activewear maker.
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By GlobalDataIt adds more than 100 styles of its most popular men’s, women’s and children’s activewear, innerwear and accessories are available on Amazon’s online store. Apparel products include performance activewear and workout wear, including leggings, jackets, T-shirts and shorts, and underwear, socks and sports bras. Other products and accessories include gloves, hats and caps, bags, shoes, and fitness equipment.
HanesBrands CEO Gerald Evans Jr says C9 Champion had “strong consumer equity and a loyal following” for the past 15 years, adding consumers love the product line’s quality, selection, value and accessible style.
“The programme is launching with a focus on top styles, but based on past popularity, we expect it to expand over time. We are excited that in addition to being available to US-based fans the C9 Champion product line will be sold globally for the first time.”
The C9 Champion product line will complement the existing mainline Champion authentic sport-inspired apparel available in the Amazon Fashion store with both Champion and C9 Champion having branded storefronts.
The agreement with Amazon comes after Hanesbrands said in August 2018 that department store retailer Target Corp would not renew the C9 Champion contract when it reached its expiration date. HanesBrands has been supplying the C9 Champion line to Target for 15 years.
In a statement at the time, Evans Jr said in the past 12 months, the company had generated around $380m in C9 Champion activewear sales.
Amazon has made no secret of its desire to dominate in the apparel space and over the last few years has been building up its private-label clothing lines, as well as taking on a raft of brands. The e-commerce giant’s recent results show that it achieved its highest UK revenue growth of 20.7% in the past five years in 2019 – which is worrying news for many competitors struggling to drive growth in the challenging trading environment.
According to a report from leading data and analytics company GlobalData last month – ‘Online pureplays in UK Clothing & Footwear 2019-2024‘ – Amazon is the second biggest online pure-play in clothing and footwear with a 4.8% share of the online clothing and footwear market. The leader is Asos with a market share of 6.6%.
Commenting on the agreement, B Riley analyst Susan Anderson notes: “We believe that this is a great partnership for HanesBrands, as Amazon has been actively expanding into the apparel business and has over 150m Amazon Prime members globally as of February versus Target’s new loyalty programme, Target Circle, with 50m members. We also estimate Amazon has a larger share of the US apparel and athletic apparel market than Target.”
She adds the firm believes C9 has enough brand recognition and loyalty to be able to capture some of Amazon’s innerwear sales in the future, competing with the Amazon Essentials line and Target’s new private label activewear brand, All In Motion.
“We also note that the price point is similar between all three brands and that on average between men’s, women’s, and kids, Amazon Essentials is – 18.7% cheaper than C9 and All In Motion is +6.6% more expensive than C9.
“Overall, we believe that this is a strong partnership for HanesBrands and will help the company expand its C9 sales while providing a global growth opportunity that the previous partnership with Target did not provide.”
