World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry releases first-ever Sporting Goods Physical Activity Impact Report, featuring Speedo and Canterbury campaigns

The global sporting goods industry has launched the first-ever Sporting Goods Physical Activity Impact Report: Moving the World Toward an Active Future, at an exclusive World Health Assembly side-event hosted by the World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry (WFSGI).

The report emphasises the need for action to address the global physical activity crisis and showcases initiatives being enacted around the world by members of the sporting goods industry. This includes the Swim United campaign run by Speedo, and the Navy Shorts campaign run by Canterbury with the IRFU.

Launching the report

The event, hosted by the World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry (WFSGI) welcomed members, including Speedo, alongside leaders from the World Health Organisation, the International Olympic Committee, Business at OECD (BIAC), the World Economic Forum, and global Ministers of Health to launch the report.

Introducing the report WFSGI CEO Emma Zwiebler, issued a call to action for increased cross-sector collaboration explaining “This is not just a health issue — it’s an economic, social and environmental imperative.”

The event celebrated the progress made since the 2023 Memorandum of Understanding between WFSGI and the World Health Organisation, which provided a framework to improve global health through increased physical activity and sports participation.

What do you need to know?

The report underscores the urgent need to address physical inactivity — a crisis affecting over 1.8 billion adults and 81% of adolescents worldwide. With inactivity levels projected to rise to 35% by 2030, the economic toll is expected to surpass $300 billion annually.

“As an industry with global reach and cultural influence, we are demonstrating how we’re removing barriers to physical activity and creating scalable, cross-sector solutions,” explains Emma Zwiebler. “This report highlights the breadth of actions our industry is taking to help empower and inspire people to live more active lives and the power of collaboration over competition amongst our member brands.”

Key highlights include:

• The sporting goods industry’s role in improving public health through inspiring campaigns, community programs, and innovative and inclusive products.
• Cross-sector partnership models to move the inactive, create safe and positive experiences, and shift the story.
• The need for urgent action and increased collaboration across the sporting goods industry along with deeper engagement with governments and public sector organizations, to address the rise of global physical inactivity.

The report included multiple case studies from WFSGI members brands which’ve launched campaigns or taken action in tackling access barriers for youth, women, and underserved communities. We’re very proud that two case studies from Pentland Brands made it into the report:

• Speedo’s Swim United Campaign: Ensuring every child has equal access to swimming, a life-saving skill.
• Canterbury’s Navy Short Campaign: Alleviating period anxiety for female players.

Simon Rowe, our SVP Canterbury (EMEA and North America) & Global Sports Marketing is Co-Chair of the WFSGI, and was instrumental in bringing the report together said: “This is the first time the industry has come together to show both collectively and with evidence, the impact we’re having on getting people moving. That alone is a huge step forward. It’s not a job done document though, it should from a basis for how the industry continues to think about its role in improving physical activity globally with the actions it takes.

“We focused on examples that had real outcomes, programmes that went beyond marketing and reached communities, schools, or hard-to-reach groups with meaningful impact The bar for inclusion was very high, with over two dozen global brands involved so our case studies needed to show global impact and not just good intentions. Pentland is proud to be selected for Speedo and Canterbury, and it really reflects the work we’re doing in this space across the group, and we hope to demonstrate our further work across our portfolio of brands in the future.”

Learn more from the full report on the WFSGI website.