A few days ago, reporters learned from NPD's market research report that sports shoes and sportswear products were hit by a more severe financial crisis in the European market than in the US market, and the most notable product of the decline was leisure products.

In the third quarter of 2008, in Europe's 5 largest markets, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, the amount of clothing sales fell by 8%, and the sales of footwear dropped by 5%.

In the United States, the downward trend is more moderate, sports shoes only drop 1.5%, while the sportswear market is slightly profit 0.7%.

NPD pointed out that when the overall sales in the European market fell, both outdoor sports apparel and footwear products had a brilliant performance.

In the European market, the number of shoes bought mainly for outdoor sports increased by 5% compared with the same period last year, while the number of sports apparel sales increased by 12%.

However, sales of casual sports shoes dropped by 7% this season, while casual sport style vests also fell by 10%.

Wang Xiaonan: editor in charge