Dive Brief:
- Teen apparel retailer Pacsun has opened its first stand-alone Pac1980 activewear store at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota.
- The 1,500-square-foot Pac1980 store features activewear consisting of leggings, skirts, onesies and tops, according to a company press release.
- The California-based retailer, which first launched in 1980 as Pacific Sunwear, plans to open a second Pac1980 before the end of the year. Pac1980 products are available online and in about 20 active shops within Pacsun locations, per the company.
Dive Insight:
The Pac1980 store at the Mall of America stands adjacent to a 5,000-square-foot Pacsun location. Pac1980 has its own mall-facing entrance and is also connected to Pacsun at the back of the store.
The move to open a brick-and-mortar Pac1980, which celebrates the birth of the company in 1980 and pays homage to the active California lifestyle it represents, comes at a time when more teen retailers are jumping on the activewear bandwagon. Abercrombie & Fitch launched Your Personal Best activewear for men and women earlier this year, while American Eagle launched Offline.
“As a brand, we have been working through the strategy of activewear over the past couple of years, of what our aesthetic looks like as compared to the rest of the market, what is differentiating to our product versus everyone else,” Addie Rintel, Pacsun’s vice president of design merchandising, told Retail Dive. “Over the past eight months we’ve seen great success with our new product strategy, which essentially is taking a slightly more cleaned up, modern aesthetic with a bit of a retro influence. The biggest thing for our Pac1980 brand is making sure the price points are really compelling for our customer. It’s intended to be a non-promotional, full-price business.”
Price points for individual pieces are moderate with leggings priced at $28 and onesies at $32. About 98% of the collection pieces are under $40, Rintel said.
The Pac1980 collection consists of three high-quality core technical fabrics: Pac Whisper (buttery soft and quick dry), Pac Glide (weightless and smooth), and Pac Move (premium fabrics for all-day wear).
“We’re really trying to give her a head-to-toe look that she could go work out in if she wanted to. But that also pairs wonderfully with apparel,” Rintel said.
Pac1980 is taking a focused approach to this new market for them with hopes to grow it into a bigger collection that will include a separate men’s offering. “We’re being strategic with how we grow,” Rintel said.
Sales of women’s activewear have spiked the past few years, especially during the pandemic when consumers were more focused on health and wellness and had more time to exercise. The size of the global activewear market in 2022 was approximately $319 billion, according to Statista. The women’ segment of the market is projected to hit $243 billion by 2027.
