Industry sneaker, apparel and equipment imports inched up 1.1% in the third quarter to $5,373.3 million from $5,315.2 million last year, recovering from two quarters of double-digit declines, but the gains were limited to just a few categories, and softgoods are still lagging. Exercise gear imports jumped a staggering 78%, and golf, racquet sports and other hardgoods also posted year-over-year growth, powering equipment to a 15.4% improvement overall to $3,523.6 million from $3,053.8 million. But athletic footwear imports were down 16.1% to $1,195.1 million from $1,424.8 million, and sports apparel did even worse, declining 21.8% to $654.6 million from $836.6 ... Log in to view full article.