6 Reasons Why Apparel Is One Of The Fastest Growing Sectors In Hunting

When you’re out there on a hunt, it’s just you versus nature, in more ways than one. It’s not just about outwitting your quarry, whether that be deer, wild boar, partridge or pigeon, it’s also about not letting the weather conditions defeat you. From frozen tundra to damp, dark forests, ensuring you have the right hunting apparel is almost as important as field craft or having the correct calibre weapon for the job. Reliable and high-performance hunting apparel is an essential pillar of the sector – and it’s a pillar that seems to be growing at a rapid rate.

Shoes at IWA OutdoorClassics 2024 — A wide range of hunting equipment products, including clothing and footwear, will be on offer at IWA OutdoorClassics.

A recent study by business research company Persistence Market Research revealed that the hunting apparel market is on an upward trajectory. The sector’s compound annual growth rate is estimated at around 8.6%, which could see it reach a global overall revenue of US $2 billion by the year 2030. Of course, studies like this are only guides and many things can change, but most will agree that this sector certainly appears to be on good footing for the future.

So, why is apparel specifically one of the areas in the hunting sector that is showing such positive potential? The answer, like many things in our business, is not simple, but there are some possible contributing factors we can look at to understand this trajectory more clearly.

1. Outdoor recreation is still booming

One of the most obvious reasons why hunting apparel is growing is because the hunting market overall is still in somewhat of a growth trend. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, more and more people have turned to outdoor pursuits, whether it’s people who were already hunters increasing the amount of time they spend hunting, hunters returning to the sport after a long time away, or completely new people to the pastime. Those two latter categories in particular are helping drive the profitability of the apparel sector. If you are new or returning to hunting – whether that’s deer stalking, grouse shooting, or hunting for wild boar – you will need appropriate clothing to help keep you comfortable for long periods in the outdoors. While the initial boom in interest in hunting may have calmed since the immediate pre-pandemic period, the sport is certainly still buoyant across Europe and the United States.

2. Hunters crave technical products

Waterproof, breathable, insect repellent, adjustable, and durable – these are all key characteristics that hunters usually demand from apparel. This market is about more than just off-the-shelf clothing from a faraway factory, it’s about producing technical garments that protect hunters from the cold, rain, wind, and sun while also keeping them comfortable for many hours. In the same way that hunters tend to get geeky about gun calibres, optics parallax settings, and shotgun shell patterns – they also love to get into the nitty gritty of clothing’s key technical performance attributes. Apparel is a growing market because the technology in the field is improving, and the engaged customers in the hunting sector are in tune with these improvements.

3. It’s easier to sell via e-commerce

Quite rightly, many products we deal with in the hunting market come attached with a high level of red tape and restrictions with regard to where and how we sell them. With apparel, there are far fewer restrictions – selling a technical jacket or a baseball cap is a lot more straightforward than selling a rifle or ammunition. This simpler sales process can allow you to take better advantage of e-commerce, which is a dynamic and fast-growing sales method. Selling apparel could become your main way in which to sell through an e-commerce platform, making your brand more accessible to a wider purchasing audience. By selling online, you can target people who may not ordinarily enter a hunting or outdoor shop and expose them to your brand, which could in turn create new long-term customers. Who knows, you could eventually turn a buyer of a camouflage hoody into a buyer of a shotgun?

4. Brand-loyal customers drive sales

No doubt your brand already has a pretty loyal following – if you are creating high-quality hunting products that perform for your customers then your fanbase should be pretty sizeable. Now, imagine that some of those customers have grown fond of your brand because the rifle or scope that they bought from you is one of their prize possessions – something they never leave out of their kit when heading out on a hunt. If they love the key products you make, then why would they turn down the opportunity to own some apparel developed by your company? Apparel is an easy way to expand the products you sell and obtain more sales from hunters.

5. Fashion is as important as function

By its very nature, clothing is about fashion. If your hunting apparel brand makes a reputation for itself as not only high-performance but also as that hard-to-define element we call ‘cool’, then you can tap into extra sales. There are plenty of examples out there of brands who have become known as ones to be seen in by hunters and are subsequently driving more sales in this way. That’s not to say the products are not good, of course they are, but if you manage to tap into the tastes of hunters, your brand could grow rapidly through the power of fashion.

6. It’s accessible to different price points

If you are a premium brand, let’s say you are a manufacturer of high-quality shotguns or rifles, then there will likely be a large demographic out there who simply cannot afford your products. That doesn’t mean that they don’t admire your brand, however. Think about it, how many people own caps or t-shirts with brands like Porsche or Ferrari on them but can’t afford to actually own one of those automobiles? This mindset can help you target customers at lower price points by selling apparel with your brand on to them. Not only does it mean you can target the very lowest end of the spectrum with simple branding items such as hoodies, but you can also target the middle segment of the market with more technical garments. Growing your hunting rifle, hunting shotgun, or optics brand in different price points doesn’t have to mean creating products you don’t want to, it just requires you to be smart with branding. This wide scope that apparel can offer is one of the key reasons it is growing as a market.