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The Australian Sporting Goods Association (ASGA) – the leading voice for Australia’s Sporting and Active Lifestyle Goods sector – has today announced that Ashley Reade, Vice President and General Manager at Nike Pacific will be the new ASGA President.

Ashley will fill the vacancy created by Andrew Reed’s recent resignation in his role of President effective as of 14 December 2023. Andrew has accepted a position that sees him taking on a secondment in Tokyo with Acushnet Japan as of January 2024.

Ashley Reade is a senior Nike executive with extensive experience building world-class teams, elevating the retail marketplace to drive deeper consumer connections, as well as experience in leading digital transformation.

Ashley has been a Wholesale Director for ASGA over the past six years, helping to connect prospective members into ASGA to fuel the growth of the Association. He has also been a driving force behind developing ASGA’s landmark industry research reports for members.

“It’s a privilege to lead ASGA as President after six years on the Board. I’m looking forward to working closely with a really talented and passionate Board to help grow and serve our member base, extend our sustainability footprint through TreadLightly, and continue to be a leading advocate for the sporting goods industry,” said Ashley Reade.

Andrew Reed was a Wholesale Director, serving on the ASGA Board for nine years, and as President for the past six years. Prior to Andrew’s presidency ASGA’s focus was predominantly focused on member wholesale data insights and being a representative voice for members to advocate on key industry issues.

Under Andrew’s leadership ASGA has transformed to have sustainability as a core strategic focus, this has included the move from a pilot program in footwear recycling in Victoria, to the national TreadLightly Footwear Program, recently achieving one million pairs of sports shoes being recycled.

Andrew has built an inclusive culture that has fostered a closer connection to members, greater diversity on the Board, and seen notable growth in grassroots member committees. ASGA is now in a strong position on member engagement and is financially sound, both greatly assisted by Andrew.

“I would like to personally thank the ASGA Board and its members for the opportunity to serve the Association. It has been a great honour to work closely with the ASGA Board and its members as we have strengthened the Association, always working to add value to the members and the industry, it has been exciting to be part of building a more sustainable future,” said Andrew Reed.

These key changes to ASGA’s board of directors, highlight a new era for the organisation as it continues to advance the Australia’s sporting goods sector.

“We are pleased to welcome Ashley Reade as President of ASGA. We look forward to Ashley working closely with ASGA’s Board of Directors and our members, as we continue to provide a valuable voice for Australia’s sporting goods sector,” said Shaun Bajada, Executive Director, ASGA.

Ashley Reade joins other members of the ASGA Board including Shaun Bajada, Daniel Vukadinovic and Russell Havens.

“On behalf of ASGA, I’d like to sincerely thank Andrew Reed for his valuable contribution to the industry. His 30+ years of experience in the sporting goods sector and his strategic leadership has greatly assisted us to scale up and grow significantly over recent years. We wish Andrew all the best for his secondment with Acushnet Japan,” said Shaun Bajada.

In November 2023, Rachael Adam, Senior Product Manager, Running, Training and Sportswear, Sportspower also stepped down from the board. Rachael has been integral to the success of the Association over the last four years, especially in relation to industry data. Rachael’s role will be filled in the coming months as the Board considers various candidates for three vacant positions.

MEDIA ENQUIRIES For more information, or to arrange an interview with ASGA, please contact Tara Ballard on 0436 330 267 or Tara@asga.com.au

We are proud to announce that we recently rebranded our Footwear Recycling Program from ‘ASGA SOS Footwear Recycling Initiative’ to TreadLightly as we rolled out the program across Australia.

Since we rebranded our footwear recycling program from ‘ASGA SOS Footwear Recycling Initiative’ to TreadLightly in October, we have seen a 25% increase in recycling – which is great news.

As part of our launch, ASGA created a new look and feel for the program, website, social channels, as well as new consumer and member staff communications to drive greater awareness of the initiative. Please check out our new website and video here.

As we’ve continued to spread the word through traditional media, social and marketing, we’ve received great feedback from industry partners, retailers and consumers – and we’re looking forward to continuing momentum into 2022.

ASGA also carried out consumer research around the program, taking a deep dive into consumer habits around shoe hoarding and sustainability motives. Some of the key findings include:

• Nearly a quarter of people (24 per cent) keep onto their old shoes, with many people admitting it’s for a rainy day or for sentimental reasons
• Half of respondents (51 per cent) confess to simply throwing their unwanted shoes in the rubbish.
• More than half of Australians (57 per cent) are concerned about sending their shoes and clothes to landfill and bothered by products that can’t be recycled easily (54 per cent).
• Three out of four people (78 per cent) believe they could do more to reduce their environmental impact.
• Half of respondents (50 per cent) are more likely to purchase from brands with a focus on environmental sustainability.
• Women are more likely to keep shoes they don’t wear, holding onto an average of seven pairs of shoes they don’t use compared to men who keep three. 

We’ve had great feedback on the new national program from the Federal Government, members, wider retail partners and consumers, and we’re looking forward to seeing TreadLightly continue to evolve and grow over the years ahead. 

We now have 410 drop off points around Australia across 24 brands. If you aren’t one of our retail partners and you’d like to get involved, please get in touch.

ASGA remains strongly committed to building a long-term and sustainable footwear recycling solution that will benefit not only the sports and active lifestyle industry but more importantly the wider community.

Read the full press release around our latest research here.

We are proud to announce the ASGA Save Our Soles Recycling Initiative has received an Australian Government grant through the National Product Stewardship Investment Fund (NPSIF) – bringing the sporting goods industry one step closer to a sustainable future.

The grant follows a successful pilot program launch in Victoria in 2019 which saw us collect over 100,000 pairs of shoes for recycling.

The industry has come together and shown its commitment to building a long-term sustainable footwear recycling solution that will benefit our planet and the community.

ASGA would like to thank our members and program partners who have shown their support and helped ASGA create a truly circular footwear recycling platform.

The full media release around the grant can be found here.

ASGA would also like to welcome Tara Ballard, who joins ASGA to manage marketing and communications. Tara’s role is to promote the ASGA SOS Recycling Initiative, working closely with brands to create greater consumer awareness around the program and achieve ambitious recycling targets.

We look forward to sharing more about the ASGA SOS Recycling Initiative in the coming months as we launch the national program.

For any questions about the program, please feel free to reach out to Tara Ballard directly at Tara@asga.com.au

ASGA is committed to supporting its members to help shape industry policies and issues. To bring this to life, ASGA has launched a number of new Member Advisory Committees.

These include:

• Sustainability 
• Physical Activity

The Member Advisory Committees will consist of specialist representatives from ASGA and subject matter experts to: 

• ​Provide a forum to exchange industry best practice 
• Help develop ASGA policy positions and support advocacy 
• Provide support for legal and regulatory compliance 
• Identify issues affecting members and formulate industry responses 

If you would like to play a role in shaping industry policies, please contact committees@asga.com.au.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to be a deterrent for participation in organised sport, according to new findings from Sport Australia’s AusPlay and Community Perceptions Monitor surveys.

However, the pandemic has driven up rates of participation in socially-distanced sports and recreational activities, which appears to be driven by women.

The report shows that while the pandemic had resulted in a dip in participation for some sports, there had been a rise in others.

For example, an estimated 253,000 more Australian adults participated in golf in 2020 compared with 2019, while 185,000 more participants played tennis.

However, restrictions on junior sport had resulted in the percentage of children who played organised sport outside of school at least once a week dropping from 55 in 2019 to 43 per cent in 2020.

Read the full report here

Today, the Sporting and Active Lifestyle Goods industry welcomes the announcement that Kate Warwick, Head of Retail and Consumer Products, FTI Consulting and Daniel Vukadinovic, Financial Controller, New Balance, have been appointed to the Board of the Australian Sporting Goods Association (ASGA).

 ASGA Board President, Andrew Reed, said “As was presented at the 2020 Annual General Meeting, the Board had set itself to understand where it had gaps and could further strengthen its diversity of background, thought, skill, knowledge and gender to become a more representative reflection of our members and the wider Sporting and Active Lifestyle community. While just as importantly, bringing on new Board Members whose knowledge and skills can add incremental value to ASGA’s key strategic initiatives.

 The ASGA Board has worked through this process over recent months and is now excited to be able to welcome and congratulate, Kate Warwick and Daniel Vukadinovic, on their successful appointments to the positions of Independent and Wholesale Directors respectively.

 Kate brings a deep understanding of the retail sector and consumer insights, having worked extensively in this sector, both in Australia and internationally. Kate’s knowledge, expertise and wider industry connections will be a great asset for ASGA, along with her significant board experiences.”  

 Kate Warwick said, “I am excited to be appointed to the ASGA Board to assist with retail and consumer insights, while also playing a role in helping to further promote the importance of sport in our communities”.

 “Daniel will bring a decade’s worth of experience in finance and regulatory knowledge to ASGA as we embark upon major projects.  Daniel is experienced in leveraging financial insights and analytics to deliver targets and create success in business, areas which will further ASGA’s advancement”, noted Andrew Reed.

 Daniel Vukadinovic said, “I am delighted to have joined the ASGA Board and look forward to further assisting the association on a strategic level as well as supporting the active lifestyle and sports performance industry”.

 “Both Kate and Daniel have a great love of sport and physical activity personally, each continuing to be involved in physical activity, while also supporting their children’s sporting pursuits. 

 The ASGA Board consisting of; Ashley Reade – Nike, Russell Havens – rebel, Rachael Adam – SportsPower, Shaun Bajada – Executive Director and myself, welcomes and looks forward to working with Kate Warwick and Daniel Vukadinovic as new ASGA Board members,” Andrew Reed enthused.

The Australian Sporting Goods Association was formed in 1981 as the industry association representing a broad spectrum of sporting goods and active lifestyle industry participants, including manufacturers, importers, wholesalers, and retailers.

ASGA is a leading industry voice on issues impacting the health, trade, sustainability, regulation, and taxation of the sporting and active lifestyle industries. ASGA aims to foster market growth, provide services and advocate for increased participation in sport and physical activity.

ENDS

Media Contact: Shaun Bajada– 0402 256 252