Brooks Running Revenue Grew 75% in Q2 as It Continues to Steal Share in Women’s From Nike and Adidas

Brooks is still riding a pandemic-spurred running high.

The running shoe brand, which is a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., reported that its global revenue rose 75% in Q2 of 2021 compared to 2020. Overall, revenues for Berkshire Hathaway’s consumer units, which include its apparel and footwear operations such as Brooks, increased about $1.5 billion, or 68%, in Q2. Apparel and footwear revenues increased 46.6% in the first half of 2021 compared to 2020. Brooks did not share specific figures regarding its revenue growth but confirmed that the top selling shoes from the quarter were its Adrenaline GTS, Ghost, Glycerin, and Glycerin GTS pairs.

“Throughout Q2 our brand has hit several major milestones together as a team,” Brooks COO Dan Sheridan said in a statement. “We grew at a record pace and throughout the quarter we publicly announced our science-backed plan to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2040, we continued to listen, learn and support underrepresented communities in the run, and our BlueLine team brought to market their latest footwear innovation.”

Brooks’ latest results continue a pattern of momentum for the fast-growing brand. Two Brooks silhouettes, the Brooks Ghost 13 and Adrenaline GTS 21, earned spots on the list of the 10 top selling sneakers in 2021 so far, according to a July 30 report from Matt Powell, senior sports industry adviser for The NPD Group Inc.

While the list was mostly dominated by Nike, Brooks is still a worthy competitor to the Swoosh. Brooks first joined the top 10 selling sneaker list in January, when the Ghost 13 secured the ninth spot in dollar rank order for that month. At the time, Powell said that Brooks beat out Nike to become the No. 1 women’s running shoe brand in the U.S. that month.

A general running and walking boom, especially among women, has helped propel the success of Brooks and other running brands such as Hoka One One and Skechers. At the same time, footwear giants Nike and Adidas have lost share in their women’s athletic footwear business to competitors including Skechers, Brooks, Vans and Converse, many of which already had huge shares of the women’s market.

The momentum has continued into 2021 as well. This year, Brooks launched the Aurora-BL shoe in May, committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2040 in June, and developed a video series called “Who Is a Runner” to promote awareness about diversity, equity and inclusion barriers that exist in running.

“In the case of Brooks, [the brand] is winning with performance running, continuing to take share there. They’ve got great product, great marketing and they have judiciously expanded their distribution in the places where women are buying their shoes,” Powell told FN in July.

Powell added that Brooks has also cornered the important market of beginner runners amid a first-time running boom in the pandemic.