Menswear holds a stable share of department store turnover, yet the category is entering a period of portfolio renewal. Dependence on a small group of mature international brands is now seen as a vulnerability, and the answer is to give those brands more room and better execution instead of widening the assortment, while the search for the next labels to scale continues. The next increments of growth are being sought in accessories, sportswear, and a more disciplined shop floor.

Across IADS members, the category accounted for an average of 13% of total turnover in 2025-26, with individual positions ranging from 6% to 21% and almost no year-on-year movement. The category is shifting online, with its share growing at most members, reaching an average of 22% of menswear turnover but with a significant spread between members. Price architecture also evolved: on a like-for-like basis, contemporary & premium rose from 34% to 43%, high-street & mid-range fell from 35% to 31%, entry-level dropped from 12% to 7%, while luxury and affordable luxury together remained stable at 19%.

Concentration is the risk; activation is the answer

Best-selling lists are dominated by established names that deliver volume and reassurance, led by Ralph Lauren, Hugo Boss and Tommy Hilfiger, followed, depending on stores and markets, by Lacoste, Moncler, Emporio Armani, Levi's and Brooks Brothers. That concentration is now treated as a point of fragility, since the performance of one or two partners moves the whole department. Widening the brand assortment has proved too weak a remedy: it lowers productivity per brand and dilutes the presentation of the names customers come for. Department stores are working the core harder instead. Manor gives key brands room to express themselves through concessions, stronger visual merchandising and activations, including a Boss beachwear pop-up that delivered newness without changing the line-up. John Lewis reports clear gains from upgraded shop fits and dedicated staffing on major international brands, an effect El Palacio de Hierro also observes with wholesale partners, where dedicated brand ambassadors outperform generalist floor staff.

The search for the next scalable labels

Finding a brand that sells is easier than finding one that scales. Carhartt illustrates the point: sell-through is strong, and the fit with department store assortments is good, and at one member it anchors the indie segment alongside brands like Fred Perry, but distribution restrictions cap how far it can scale.

Members are adding in three directions at once: luxury and tailoring names such as Brioni, Brunello Cucinelli, Tom Ford and The Row, contemporary and lifestyle labels such as Arket, Filson, A.P.C. and Drôle de Monsieur, and streetwear through Fear of God and Fear of God Essentials. Directional names are tested for the attention they draw even before volumes follow, as with the soft corner and Haussmann window presentation Galeries Lafayette opened for Willy Chavarria.

Accessories and sport need a roster, not a hero brand

Accessories are considered key to growth, via a new approach to assortment structure. Blockbusters such as Tumi and Coach are complemented by Sprayground and Rains, and luxury houses such as Gucci, Prada and Bottega Veneta are paired with urban European labels including Sandqvist, alongside heritage names such as Longchamp, Lancel and Le Tanneur.

In sportswear, On was reported as a leading men's footwear brand; Lululemon emerged as a strong growth driver and is complemented by an activewear environment including brands like Satisfy Running, District Vision, Arc'teryx, Vuori and Rhone. The shared conclusion is that a single hero brand does not make a category: a credible multi-brand presentation needs a roster deep enough to read as a destination.

The menswear customer is not only male, and not yet young

Women account for a significant share of menswear purchases, above half at several department stores. Since that customer is already in the department, the effort is going into male self-purchase, with Bloomingdale's rebalancing through luxury tailoring from Brioni and Brunello Cucinelli. Younger women are also buying menswear for themselves, which members accommodate by extending size ranges on brands such as Acne Studios and Ami Paris while keeping the product in its menswear location. Recruiting younger male customers remains a work in progress, with no single formula and an open question over how much they can actually spend. In response to spending-power and assortment challenges, dedicated spaces in flagship stores are one route, and some members are preparing specific credit solutions. Manor rotates younger labels through laboratory spaces supported by marketing and social media, while Bloomingdale's works through opening-price streetwear and digital channels. Adjacent categories help, since back-to-school products, backpacks and accessories bring younger shoppers into the department. Economic uncertainty sits underneath, with Boyner describing a customer who has not abandoned premium products but has become far more selective.

Men shop with a mission, so clarity sells

IADS partner and retail expert Newstores set out the store-design consequence: most men arrive knowing what they want, so the commercial task is to make the intended product easy to find and let additional purchases emerge from there. Overcrowded floors work against that, and competing concessions compound the problem. Wayfinding becomes a commercial requirement rather than a courtesy, which puts the traditional racetrack layout in question. The examples point the same way: the refurbished H&M flagship in Stockholm creates an elevated impression from a limited number of styles, Zara Man in Osaka uses lifestyle rooms with masculine reference points, and M&S on Oxford Street strips its menswear floor back to few styles, low equipment and daylight. Props do the rest, from an oversized zip presented as an artwork at H&M to the illuminated wall of polo shirts at the Fred Perry flagship in London, which turns the core product itself into a display.

Menswear will not grow simply by broadening its assortment. The category is stable, the customer is more selective, and the returns now come from choices rather than additions: fewer brands given more room, a roster deep enough to make accessories and sport credible, a shop floor organised for a customer who came in to buy something specific. Department stores hold the advantage in this reset, since editing a multi-brand offer into a coherent proposition is precisely what the format was built to do.

About Newstores

Newstores is a service that delivers daily information about stores that have just opened, been refurbished or remodelled. It analyses what this means for the market and where it points in terms of trends and the direction that retail is taking. Newstores provides a global view of what’s happening from Seoul to London, and from Mexico to Dubai. Issuing four annual trend reports detailing the major moves, Newstores helps retailers make informed decisions. Newstores is compiled, edited and written by John Ryan, a retailer and journalist with more than 30 years of experience, covering all categories, from food to fashion.

Contact: johnhilldown@aol.com

About IADS

The International Association of Department Stores (IADS) is the only expert body specialising globally in the department store retail format. Consisting of leading department store members worldwide, the Association serves as an international network that facilitates exchange and communication among its members. It also conducts research to address the current challenges of department stores and provide actionable insights for its members.

Today, IADS permanent members include Almacenes Siman (El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica), Beijing Hualian Group (PRC), Bloomingdale’s (USA), Boyner (Turkey), Breuninger (Germany), Chalhoub Group (UAE), Centro Beco (Venezuela), El Corte Inglés (Spain), El Palacio de Hierro (Mexico), Falabella (Chile, Colombia and Peru), Galeries Lafayette (France), John Lewis & Partners (UK), Lifestyle International Holding (Hong Kong), Magasin du Nord (Denmark), Manor (Switzerland), The Mall Group (Thailand), TSUM Kyiv (Ukraine). These retail leaders are joined by a network of other department stores and retail companies as corresponding members.

Together, the IADS members, all key players in their respective markets, create a landscape of diverse business models and cultures, representing more than €41 billion in combined annual turnover, achieved through over 563 stores with 257,000 associates in 32 countries.

Through its activities and partnerships with Retail Hub, RH-ISAC, and Newstores, the Association remains constantly up to date on its members’ questions and challenges. It generates solution-driven problem-solving processes for its members, preparing them to face the future of the retail industry.

Press Contact: IADS, press@iads.org

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