Sainsbury's expands athleisure range

Sainsbury's, the UK grocer that is one of the "big four" supermarkets, is focusing on growing its non-food business and as part of the strategy, it's expanding its athleisure range.

The Tu athleisure range has doubled in size and will be in 170 Sainsbury’s stores from this week (7 August), launching in time for the "Summer of Sport." Sainsbury's says the collection should appeal to both those who want to embrace a healthier lifestyle, and those who just want to look good.

James Brown, Director of Non-Food Trading at Sainsbury’s, said: “Men and women of all ages are embracing the concept of more casual dressing. There is definitely a trend towards people wearing sport-inspired fashion throughout the day because it fits in with the way people live their lives these days. We’ve designed our ‘athleisure’ range to be stylish, comfortable and great quality and it’s a growing part of our clothing offer this year because we believe it’s exactly what our customers want to buy.”

Clothes is big business for the supermarket - in the last year, more than 8 million customers shopped for clothes here and it said clothing is heading for a £1bn business. Sainsbury's is now the sixth largest clothing retailer by volume, up from seventh place last year. The athlesiure market is estimated to be worth $194bn worldwide.

Sainsbury's expands athleisure range

See also