Australian apparel and footwear business Accent Group has decided to discontinue its local license of the Dickies brand and is also winding up its freshly acquired MySale business.
This comes as the group – which owns or runs under license around 30 brands and retailers, including the likes of Hoka, Hype DC and Platypus – begins executing its rollout of Sports Direct stores and fields a heavily promotional environment.
In a trading update this morning, Accent Group confirmed it will discontinue the MySale business and associated websites that were acquired in May as part of the transaction with Fraser Group. The deal included Accent taking on the local operations of Frasers’ Sports Direct retail business.
MySale operations will be wound down, with closure expected early in the third quarter of FY26.
As at the end of October FY26, MySale had recorded EBIT losses of $3.48 million, Accent reported.
In the same swoop, Accent has also decided to discontinue the distribution agreement with Dickies, citing a change of ownership by the American brand.
Accent Group had originally signed on Dickies, alongside a separate deal with sporting brand Lacoste, to be the local distributor of both. Accent will remain as distributor for Lacoste, with Lacoste recently opening a flagship in Melbourne.
This also comes as Accent recently extended its Skechers distribution agreement to 2035 and extended its Hoka distribution agreement by five years to 2030.
All this was shared in a trading update, which showed that Accent’s total owned sales (including wholesale and new stores) are up 3.7 per cent for the first 20 weeks of FY26. Like-for-like retail sales, however, were down 0.4 per cent. For the month of October, LFL sales were up 0.4 per cent.
As at the end of October (Week 18) FY26, year-to-date gross margin as a percentage was down 160 basis points (1.6 per cent) below last year, with Accent citing an elevated promotional environment for the fall.
The company told shareholders that retail market conditions remain challenging in FY26.
“The sports category continued to perform well, particularly running and performance footwear across The Athletes Foot and distributed brands Hoka, Saucony and Merrell,” Accent reported. “Lifestyle footwear sales have been soft and below expectations.
“Wholesale sales are ahead of prior year, with forward orders remaining strong into the second half of FY26. CODB and inventory continue to be well managed and in line with plan.
Accent added that with LFL sales being below expectations and gross margin down, the group expects EBIT for the first half to be in the range of $55 million and $60 million. This inclusive of non-recurring losses associated with the closure of the MySale operations.
For the full year, Accent’s EBIT is expected to be in a range of $85 million and $95 million. The full year guidance assumes the range provided above for H1 and for H2 EBIT in a range of $30 million to $35 million. Second half FY25 EBIT was $29.6 million.
Accent Group held its AGM this morning, with CEO Daniel Agostinelli not in attendance. Group chair David Gordon said Agostinelli could not attend as he is unwell.
“We currently anticipate that Daniel will be away from the business for a number of weeks and we have a strong senior executive team, who will take on additional responsibilities during this time,” Gordon said.