Sport Alliance, the Italian buying group affiliated with Sport 2000 International, is further boosting its wholesale operations with a contract for the distribution of Cariuma skate shoes in Italy. The brand’s sustainable sneakers are developed and produced in Brazil. Sport Alliance still has one and a half years to go with its contract for the distribution of On in Italy and hopes to keep it, according to a company manager, as it is generating double the volume that would be necessary to set up a wholly-owned subsidiary. Sport Alliance is also the Italian distributor for ZEG bicycles and owns its own brand of fitness equipment, Get Fit, which is being partly produced in Italy due to supply chain constraints. On the other hand, Nike and Adidas have decided to work directly with only some of the group’s members, without going through the buying group as before. The break-up with Nike began in 2019, and Adidas followed suit from the autumn/winter 2020/21 season. The group’s revenues fell considerably as a result, but it continued to generate a profit. Controlled by its two biggest retail members, Sportler and Sportland, Sport Alliance federates a little over 200 shops, including many running specialists that joined the group recently. The members’ total sales declined by about 8 percent to €360 million last year, resulting in a market share gain because 26 percent of their sales were in the running category and 18 percent in outdoor and snow sports, which better resisted during the Covid pandemic.

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