New Era: 2023 was a record year for Europe

The German-speaking countries are the most important market for US cap supplier New Era in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. Digital direct sales increased by almost 50 percent compared to the previous year.

New Era is capitalising on the growing popularity of US sports in Germany and is also using events such as the National Football League (NFL) games in Frankfurt to drum up publicity. In addition to a centrally located pop-up store, the brand from Buffalo, New York was also represented as the official headwear licence holder at two games in November. New Era caps were sported by athletes on the sidelines as well as numerous fans in and around the stadium.

FashionUnited used the sports event to talk to Markus Finke, country manager for Germany, Austria, Switzerland (DACH) and Denmark at New Era, about the current sales strategy and other plans for the market.

For brick and mortar stores, you are currently focussing on shop-in-shops and pop-ups in Germany. What is your current distribution strategy?

A major focus is the optimisation of New Era sales areas at our retailers. This ranges from simple display solutions to complete shop-in-shops. We have always strived to create very good New Era branded sales areas in cooperation with our retailers.

We realised early on that the presentation of our main product category, caps, is extremely important for sales. In EMEA, caps are presented in the classic way, hanging on hooks. Over 18 years ago, we were the first to introduce cap walls and matching displays to the European market. Wherever we have optimised the sales areas, sales have grown disproportionately.

Why is there no German flagship store any more?

We are currently focussing on our wholesale business and our online shop. Apart from our very successful store in London, there are currently no plans for another flagship store in EMEA. However, this strategy could change again in the long term.

With retail partners such as Snipes and Kickz, you already have a strong presence in stationary stores. Are you planning to expand this presence even further?

We are focussing primarily on our current partners and want to expand our business and presence with them. We have recently restructured our European sales network. The aim of this measure was to enable us to focus even more on our strong retail partners.

In the DACH region and in Denmark, we have a presence of over 1,500 points of sale. Snipes is now a Europe-wide key account with which we have had a partnership for almost 25 years. Not only our proximity to Cologne, but also the same end consumers connect us.

You are also planning to introduce a new store concept in 2024. How will this be different?

In contrast to our current concept, which is quite dark and strongly inspired by ‘US Sport Heritage’, the new store concept will be very clean, modern and in line with today's trends. It has even greater modular capabilities and the product is placed even more in the centre of attention.

The integration of campaign images is also more diverse and much more effective than before. We look forward to equipping the first stores with them. We are already planning four premium locations for early 2024.

The German online shop achieved a year-on-year increase in sales of almost 50 percent. What results do you expect for this financial year?

2023 will also be another record year for New Era in the DACH and EMEA regions. As times are not easy at the moment, 2024 will be an interesting year for everyone. But even in view of this challenge as a brand, we are looking positively into the future. As the market leader, it is important for us to keep introducing new products and trends to the market. Especially in our fast-growing online shop, new products achieve excellent results.

What other European markets are particularly strong?

Our main markets with direct sales in Italy, Spain, the UK and France all had a fantastic year. The prospects for 2024 are also very good there. We are represented by a very good distribution network in the rest of EMEA and are also seeing good growth there.

Denmark is a great success story, which my team added to our portfolio two years ago. In Copenhagen in particular, we are represented in many beautiful shops.

US leagues are important licence partners for New Era, but also a few European teams. German teams are currently not among them…

We have a different concept in the DACH region so far. We work with a large number of Bundesliga clubs and brands, but not under licence. We act as a manufacturer and supplier here. The distribution of New Era products is done by the partners themselves.

One of our biggest partners is Red Bull. In addition to the Formula 1 licence, we make products for all other Red Bull sports clubs, as well as for almost all events and athletes.

Are you planning new collaborations for 2024?

Yes, there is definitely something planned for 2024, but unfortunately I can't say any more than that yet.

You are also planning to further expand the womenswear range in the coming year. What can we expect?

Womenswear is a completely new category for us. In 2024, we will bring back our bestsellers with a new look and expand the collection with some new silhouettes.

Are you also planning to expand the clothing range in general?

Our apparel collection is definitely growing. In the current order round for the third quarter of 2024, we are already showing an extremely expanded range. We have added many new products and styles to the collection. MLB Heritage is particularly popular at the moment, but our NBA and NFL collections are also very successful in EMEA. We are paying particular attention to the New Era Branded collection, in which we showcase our most innovative items.

What proportion of New Era's business is apparel?

Apparel now has a share of 24 percent.

This interview was conducted in written format.

This article was originally published on FashionUnited.DE . Edited and translated by Simone Preuss.