FILA: A RETRO COMEBACK
The Disruptor, BTS, Cool Collabs + Social Media
The Italian brand Fila has had a reboot with the rise of athleisure and the growing desire for vintage fashion. The iconic red, blue and white color scheme has been around for more than a century, but it was Fila’s hit sneaker of the 1990s, the Disruptor, that led the brand’s revival. “It just took off like wildfire. And then as that shoe was doing well, then apparel that went with it also added to the excitement,” said Matt Powell, Senior Industry Advisor for Sports with the NPD Group.
It’s the most relevant Fila has been in the US and UK since its strong presence in the 90s when rappers like LL Cool J, Arabian Prince, Big Daddy Kane, Tupac, and Nas wore the brand. The rerelease with the Disruptor II delivered on several fashion trends: the 1990s resurgence and the growing popularity of bulked-up sneakers. The success of the company’s comeback was seen in the numbers. Sales in the US grew 25% in 2018 and 2019. Globally the brand surged 256% from 2016 to 2019.
The Fila brand, throwback logo, and an appetite for retro was helped by social media and its influencers, “Every brand today is getting all of its energy out of social media, as opposed to traditional marketing. The social media mentions were very, very important for this resurgence,” said Powell.
It’s believed that “retro will continue to be good,” explained Powell. Still, Fila and most brands saw negative sales numbers in 2020. The pandemic was part of it, but Fila also failed to follow-up on the Disruptor II sneaker’s success. Last year, the number one selling shoe in the US was Nike’s iconic Air Force One sneaker, first introduced in the 1980s. “They need to go back into the archives and try to find a replacement for Disruptor, said Powell, “and then bring it to the market in a careful way, so the product sells out quickly, and people are buzzing about it and talking about it on social media.”
In 2007, Gene Yoon, founder of Fila’s Korean division, purchased Fila’s trademarks from Sports Brand International. He oversaw the revival and created the Heritage category, home of its retro products. Yoon proved the original idea of the brand is still relevant, and fortunately for Fila, it has a deep vault of products to capitalize on.
