Nike Remains World's Most Valuable Apparel Brand

The pandemic year 2020 was a tough one for retail in general, and the fashion industry in particular. The dire financial situation which many consumers were confronted with almost overnight resulted in a slump in demand for most products beyond everyday essentials. In addition to that, lockdowns forced retailers worldwide to close down their stationary stores for weeks or even months, which resulted in a complete standstill of all sales activity for those who had not yet established online sales channels. Many were forced to build up online stores in no time, others had to immediately expand their online capacities to meet the surging demand. In the end, the year was not as disastrous as the first few months had suggested for many players in the retail business, thanks to flourishing eCommerce activities. Nonetheless have most apparel brands lost in brand value in the wake of the corona crisis. According to Brand Finance, the top 50 most valuable apparel brands lost 8% in value between 2020 and 2021, currently amounting to a total of US$276.4 billion. These are the current top 10:

For the 7th year in a row, Nike is the most valuable apparel brand in 2021 in the Brand Finance analysis. The sportswear brand, which invested heavily and successfully in expanding its eCommerce activities in 2020, has a current value of US$30.4 billion. Even though Nike lost 13% in brand value compared to 2020, the sports apparel brand still has a comfortable lead over second-placed Gucci. Following a decline of 12% in brand value, Gucci is currently worth US$15.6 billion. Almost all brands in the current top 10 lost in brand value year-on-year. The only brand which recorded a small increase of 1% is 7th-placed Uniqlo, which reached a 2021 brand value of US$13.1 billion. Although there are many luxury brands among the top 10, who cannot compete with most eCommerce giants in terms of absolute eCommerce sales – which is also the reason why they are not among the top ranks in the ecommerceDB.com store rankings –, fast fashion players Zara and H&M also make the ranking of the 10 most valuable apparel brands. They are not only big in terms of brand value, H&M and Zara are also among the world’s leading apparel brands in terms of absolute online sales and sales growth. Zara’s main online stores zara.com  and zarahome.com, for example, just turned out to have broken previous net sales records in 2020.

But not all of the Brand Finance apparel top 50 in 2021 recorded value declines. Some grew substantially, with Fila registering the most impressive value growth. The sportswear brand headquartered in South Korea grew by more than 68% in brand value between 2020 and 2021. Others cannot challenge this outstanding increase, but can still present a solid plus in brand value – among them Lululemon, the Canadian sportswear brand whose main URL lululemon.com has constantly registered high eCommerce net sales growth over the past years. All in all, the reported average value loss of 8% for the top 50 apparel brands could supposedly have turned out a lot higher if it wasn’t for the elaborate eCommerce structures in the industry.

Note: According to Brand Finance, the value of a brand is identified by combining evaluations by equity analysts calculating the value of earnings specifically related to brand reputation with a review of what users of brands actually pay for the use of brands in the form of brand royalty agreements, also drawing on their market research database including research on over 3,000 brands in 30 markets.