Of course, what we're about to present to you is already old news since it was published, actually, almost a week ago. But nevertheless, here we are. So hang in there. First, we start 2023 with strong growth, what we believe is in a very challenging market. And on top of that, of course, we also see improved operating profit versus last year, which, of course, is very, very good. No matter in which way we turn our head, no matter which newspaper we read, we can conclude that the market around us is tougher than ever. However, what we can conclude from Q1 is that we currently have a very, very strong consumer pull in the market. So just reviewing then some of our highlights from the quarter in this executive summary. So first, of course, it is a record sale, so we've never sold more.
It works in all our channels, but of course, we're predominantly really, really proud over our e-com performance that is growing more than 30% versus last year. And also, of course, comp store plus 41%. And of course, we need to remind ourselves that last year, first month of the year, actually a few stores were closed due to the COVID. Yes, it seems like it was 100 years ago, but that's actually the fact. But even without the comp growth of 41%, the retail is growing 14% despite closing down stores. So very good momentum in our direct-to-consumer channels. And also, of course, wholesale are going and working and growing as well, with the e-tailers still lagging a bit behind as we'll see very, very shortly. Looking at our margins, we're increasing versus last year, even though the currency is still working a bit against us.
And if we look at currency-neutral comparison, we're up quite a bit since last year's numbers. Looking at our balance sheet, we're in a very, very healthy position. And of course, much thanks to improved profit now for numerous quarters in a row, where our profit is closing above 30 million in Q1. So overall, a very, very strong quarter one and a good start of 2023, which we believe is needed. So just reminding us where we're heading. So what was this all about then? So our overall mission has, I'm sure you remember, I keep repeating myself, is that we believe that the world don't actually need more black t-shirts. Well, the world don't need any more brands at all, actually. But the world needs a best friend. And you need one too.
One that is reminding you on those tough days that you can just get up of your bed and do whatever you need to do. One that is constantly there to challenge you when you're thinking about quitting. We want to build a sports fashion brand that inspires you that if you just want to give yourself one gift of the day, that should be training. And not training in terms of winning a marathon. You can do that too, but training is too much important just to focus on competing. Now, training in terms of movement, in terms of doing something that will make you better, live longer and a happier life. So that's our overall mission.
Of course, looking at our financial objectives, we've said that we want to grow mid to high single digit and, of course, having a double operating profit, which we're having in Q1, so that's fantastic. And clearly, of course, the focus, our approach to creating growth has been to move the brand from being only underwear in the past into becoming a sports brand. And of course, it was reassuring when I opened up Dagens Industri last week, and they now describe us as the sport and underwear brand. I think that never happened before. So we're slowly, of course, moving the perception of us into becoming a sports brand instead of just an underwear brand. And we believe that by doing so, of course, the opportunities to continue to grow are simply massive. And that gives me then the lead into our brand.
So we see in the quarter that brand is getting stronger. So both in terms of unaided awareness, in preference, in consideration, both for men and women, the brand is ongoing growing. In some markets, it's slow, but overall, we see that the brand is getting stronger and stronger and stronger. And our main focus, of course, as we spoke about in the past, is to get up the unaided awareness, both of both men and women, but then predominantly as a sports brand. And this, of course, journey will take a long time, but we see small, small progress every quarter. Looking here, of course, one concern in the back when we launched the idea of moving the brand from underwear into sports fashion and sports apparel was that, wait, what happens with the underwear category? What if you lose out there?
And of course, the intention was never to lose anything on underwear, neither as a brand nor in terms of sales volumes. So of course, we're super happy and proud that we managed to build the brand and move it into a new arena and at the same time maintain our market leadership in our mature market as an underwear brand. Looking at the top line development, so as I already said, it's a record quarter. We've never sold more in a Q1. And that, I think, is fantastic given, of course, the market circumstances and also, of course, what happens around us. We believe, however, there's a bit of a lag. So most likely, consumers will be more and more impacted by the world around us. And that might impact, of course, consumptions also coming at our end. But looking at Q1, a very, very strong quarter.
Looking at our markets, it's a bit of a mixed bag. So we see strong growth in our big markets, so Sweden and Netherlands. I think that's fantastic, of course. In Germany, we're struggling, but again, that's related to the e-tailers. So we see both in terms of Germany as a market, but also in terms of the e-tailers that still a bit overstocked. And we see that they're struggling a bit to sell out and clear out their inventories in the same pace they've anticipated. So that's the reason we're dropping in Germany. Again, looking at our channels, so own retail plus 41% comp, very, very good. Even without comps, looking at retail numbers versus retail numbers, we're up 14%. Looking at own e-com, plus 33% in the quarter, very, very good, predominantly driven by an amazing momentum in sports apparel.
This is now the fifth quarter in a row where our sports apparel is growing and gaining shares within our company. As you know, that is really what this journey is all about, moving the brand into a bigger arena, adding new categories, and by doing so, of course, also increasing the revenue and the profit. Last, of course, wholesale and distributors. Here we see growth in some markets, declining others. Overall, we see a strong recovery with brick and mortar. E-tailers still struggling a bit versus very strong last year and the year before numbers. Here, of course, as you know, already back in 2018, we said that the brand is actually fitting a lot better in the online environment, both when it comes to communication, but also in terms of distributing our products.
And of course, the task we set to ourselves was to be a major player amongst the e-tailers, own e-com, and also different social media channels. And we've been doing so very, very successfully. And we can see that our share of online business is increasing every quarter, even though, of course, we take a bit of a dip when we're starting this year. And again, that's not thanks to our massive growth in own e-com, but rather that we're losing out a bit in some of the e-tailers. And that's related then mostly to a very, very poor quarter with Zalando. Looking at our different categories, here, I think it showcased that we now are offering a lot of different categories, and they're all growing with the exception of eyewear in the quarter.
But overall, I think that also tells a message that we are building a brand which is relevant in more than just one category. And of course, the highlight of the quarter is very, very strong sports apparel growth. And also, of course, super happy with the momentum that we currently are seeing in bags. And at the same time, of course, continuing to grow underwear and making sure that we are the number one men's underwear brand in our mature markets in Northern Europe. So with that said, now let's dig a bit deeper into the impact that has on bottom line. And of course, who will do that better than our CFO, Jens. So Jens, fire away.
Thank you, Henrik. Thank you. Yeah, with pleasure, but before I do that, again, I just want to share a little story that happened last week in the office, and it was a person, let's call her Amelie. She started with us a year and a half ago and had never run before, basically. She couldn't run one kilometer. First year, she set the goal of running 5K without stopping. She managed to do that. This year, she had a goal of running 10K, 10 kilometers without stopping, and last week, she came to me with a big smile and said, "You want to know?" "Yes, I want to know because that smile tells me there's something going on." So she ran 10.2 kilometers without stopping, and not only that, she did it in 55 minutes, so it's not about running fast or whatever.
It's about accomplishing what you set yourself out to do to become a better version of what you were yesterday. And this is just a fantastic example that made my day or made my week, actually. I'm so happy for her. So that's what I surround myself with every day that makes me want to go back to work. It's fantastic to have colleagues that simply set out hard targets and then achieve them. But nevertheless, if we look at the bottom line, so the gross margin, as we heard from Henrik earlier, is increasing in 2021, in the first quarter of 2023. And that, despite the currencies, is working a bit against us. So we're up to 52% versus 50% last year, same quarter. And if we look at that currency neutral, it's 54%. So we're increasing just about four percentage points versus the same period last year.
That simply shows that the operations of the business itself is really strong at the moment. The operating profit is, again, very, very strong, above SEK 30 million compared to SEK 29 million last year. A super strong quarter in terms of profitability. This despite being a bit cautious about the market ahead of us, that we don't really know what is coming, but it's certainly uncertain. That's for sure. Clearly, the net income is following the operating profit and shows a really strong quarter in the first quarter of this year. Again, if we look at the ratio versus sales, we're up at 13%, same more or less as 2022. Then we've seemed to have been establishing ourselves on a very solid EBIT ratio level above 10%, as we've highlighted in our financial targets. That feels good. Let's see what happens.
But last year was clearly very strong. And we hope to see what it comes. But it's certainly a challenging market ahead of us. That's clear. Looking at the balance sheet shortly, it's a solid company with a strong balance sheet. So that's the bottom line of it. The equity-to-assets ratio is above 60% when we closed the quarter. And we've been fairly stable around 50-55. And so that's really improving. The net debt is simply amazing to see that only a few years back, we were at way above SEK 100 million in net debt. Now we're somewhere between zero and SEK 50 million, if you will, depending on which quarter. So we really have lowered our net debt the last few years. We also look carefully at our working capital, meaning the inventory, accounts receivable, and payable, and so on.
And if we compare that to a rolling gross sales 12 months, we are stable, I would say, around 20%, which is where we want to be. So that's a target we've set out for ourselves to be around 20%. That gives us a good inventory covering what we need without being tied up too much in our capital. So with that, the strong, solid balance sheets, I would say, that certainly will be needed in an uncertain market. So I'll leave to Henrik to close the presentation before some questions, I guess.
Brilliant, brilliant, so thank you, and a few might wonder why do these guys talk so fast. And of course, the reason is the story that Jens just told, so with all these fantastic employees, we want to simply get back to the office as quick as we can. And of course, that's where the business is being made. But looking at the quarter, and actually, the key takeaways are very, very similar. Also, if you look at past quarters, we want to continue to focus on the brand. That's one of the two things that makes us truly unique. No one else is owning Björn Borg than we. And of course, taking ownership over a brand and having various distribution channels, we believe, is a massive strength. And we see that the brand is continuing to grow stronger and stronger. Very, very important.
Secondly, of course, the highlight is very, very strong growth in our own channels, so we see a massive consumer pull in the market, people that really would want to buy our products, and it's predominantly then driven from other categories than underwear, so we're becoming more and more relevant as a sports brand, which is part of the strategy. It takes a lot of time, and you need to be rigid and resilient, but now we see the efforts of our many hours of developing the collection, so the brand and the product are working together, leading to high sellout numbers in our D2C channels, and of course, last then, sports apparel is growing 19% in the quarter. That's now our fifth quarter in a row we see sports apparel growth.
And that's really our main objective with the business plan and creating then Björn Borg into something much, much bigger than just an underwear brand. And here, even though we've been doing it for many, many years right now, the journey is simply just in the beginning. So there is unmatched potential if we continue to successfully take market shares in the very, very big sports apparel arena. So with that said, looking back, a very, very strong quarter. As Jens said, looking ahead, no one knows what will hit us. I'm sure that, and I'm very confident that we can continue to drive very, very strong results. However, of course, we're also ready for whatever will be thrown at us. Looking back, I know that the team we have in place is very, very agile and is probably at its best when things are as tough as.
So we saw that during COVID. We also saw that at the aftermath of the COVID. And of course, now we're battling inflation and still an ongoing war in a very, very efficient and professional way. So super happy with a very strong team. That's going to help us also guide us through future challenges. So with that said, thank you so much for listening in. I'm sure that Hjalmar has a bunch of questions as well. So let's fire away, Hjalmar.
That's great. Good to see you back, and congratulations on yet another strong quarter. I was thinking maybe first we could elaborate a bit on the drivers of the sports apparel in the quarter, which of course is growing strongly. Is this particular collection that are well received or are there any other drivers that you can mention, particularly in the Q1?
I think the long answer is it's a combination of very different things that is working together. Of course, it's also just many months and years of ongoing work, believing that we can become something different than what we was in the past. Of course, if you just not give up, you continue to focus, then eventually you, even a very poor tennis player, will be a good tennis player. Of course, we started out with almost no knowledge and no insights in sports apparel. Now we're talking 2014. We fueled the entire team with a lot of competence. Of course, then we've been working slowly towards becoming a sports fashion brand. Looking at Q1, I think of course what we do better and better is the combination of our marketing efforts.
So in social media, the way we work with influencers and individuals, having them telling our story. And of course, also the way we drive our own D2C channels. And when you combine all those three, that's when we see really, really strong growth. What is, I think, really, really nice to see in Q1 is that the women's apparel is really, really flying out. So looking at our e-com, women's apparel is growing 176%. And of course, we know that the women's apparel market is twice the size than the men's apparel market. So of course, being relevant towards women, of course, will also give us an even bigger potential for driving further growth.
If we look at the underlying market for sports apparel, of course, it's growing fast. Do you believe that you're still taking market share or are you growing with the underlying market?
What we see right now is that we're definitely taking market shares. So there's no signs that the momentum that we've seen in the past from sports apparel is still here. So depending, of course, which country you look into. But in best case, we anticipate that in Western Europe, the underlying market is probably just about flat. And of course, then we should consider in that a lot of price increases, ideally, of course, should drive the market. So there's a lot fewer products sold in the market this year than last year. That's what our data is telling us. So we definitely take market shares.
That's great. And then maybe I was thinking, maybe you could elaborate a bit on sort of the campaign pressure that you see in the market. Are your competitors launching heavy pricing campaigns or what is the current level of pricing adjustments that you're facing in the market?
I think it's on and off, of course. We don't see that it's more of that right now than potentially three, four months ago. So on one hand, of course, we have a lot of our retailers and our wholesale customers that are still sitting on fairly high inventories. And of course, that needs to get out of their warehouse to get room for new products. And of course, they are, depending on which one, of course, they're fairly aggressive in off-pricing. When we look at our approach, we've never had lower discounts. So we're decreasing our discounts in the quarter, both for our D2C channel, but also for our wholesale business. And of course, the ability to do so, again, comes back to then the brand is getting stronger, the products are getting better.
Of course, if you combine the two, then of course, you can continue to sell without, of course, discounting your products. So on e-com, for example, we never had less discounts. And we didn't do the mid-season sale this year on e-com, even though, of course, all of our competitors did so. And even with that, we're still continuing to grow versus last year. So we see that there, yes, on one hand, there's a lot of discounts in the market, but for us as a brand, we're reducing discounts. And that's the result, of course, you see also in our gross margin improvements. So despite, of course, the currency continuing to work against us, we're improving our gross margin. And I think that's thanks to predominantly two things. Of course, one, lower discounts.
Of course, the second one is that we see also some of the cost increases that hit us two years ago, for example, with containers and inbound freight has gone down. Of course, that's also impacting our gross margin in a positive way.
Can we now, in the first quarter, see the full effect of the price of, for example, shipping and input prices going down, or is there more to come on that?
It's a volatile market. I don't foresee any increases. However, again, of course, a lot of that is also still paid in US dollars. So of course, even though the container price might go down a bit, the US dollar might change. So it's going to go up anyway. Or the US dollar might be a bit weaker. Then, of course, it will be even cheaper. So it's really hard to say. We feel that the prices on raw material and some of the freight-related costs have flattened out a bit, and it's not as volatile as we saw probably a year, year and a half ago.
Then on the physical stores, own stores, same store sales growth was very impressive in the first quarter. You mentioned this, but could you elaborate a bit on the drivers? Are there particular regions that are driving or what's driving the growth that we see in the first quarter?
No, I think it's a combination, of course. So one, of course, we've closed down a lot of non-performing stores. So the ones we have left are really the ones that are performing. So I think that's one explanation. Another one, of course, again, as I said, the stores in Benelux, they were closed even though only for a month last year. But of course, it's a bit easier to grow versus a zero. So that's helping us a bit, of course. But then we see also when we look into our other customers that there is a fairly strong momentum or at least a slightly higher momentum in brick and mortar in Q1 than what we see in retailers. So I think it's the trend, of course, of shopping only online is flattening out a bit. And many people are also wanting to continue to visit stores to purchase.
We believe that you need to have a very strong and solid balance. Sometimes you want to shop online. Other times you want to pop by a store to pick up whatever you want. I think to have both those channels gave us a very, very good strength. However, of course, with that said, in 2019, I think we said that we want to pull out from full-price retail. We believe that we can better serve wholesale customers with shop-in- shops instead of investing into retail space ourselves. Of course, that trend strategy continues. We closed down one store in Q1 in Västermalmsgallerian. We will close another store actually this week in Ostend in Belgium. Then we'll maintain the outlet stores where the relevant outlet villages. We believe that's the right way for us as a brand to continue driving profitable growth.
Thank you. And then I was thinking maybe you mentioned like Germany is a market that faces challenges right now. Are these challenges expected to continue? Did you see any trend leaving the quarter? Can you elaborate a bit on this?
I think with Germany, it's a bit twofold. Of course, one, we see that there's, well, three fairly big European retailers that are based in Germany. The biggest one, Zalando, so Berlin-based. They sell a lot of their products outside Germany. We see with all those retailers that they're just struggling a bit with driving growth. That is impacting us as a brand. That goes with actually all of them. About You, Tennis-Point, SportScheck. They're struggling a bit with driving the momentum that they had in the past. Then secondly, of course, we see that the German market is also struggling a bit more than potentially what we see in the Nordics. All the changes that have happened to us as consumers is making them more aware.
They have a slightly more pessimistic outlook to the world, which of course also impacting the way they're buying. That's what we also see, for example, our own e-com in Germany is continuing to grow, but not the same pace in some of the other markets. I think it's a combination. The European retailers are struggling a bit overstock and of course impacted with the market circumstances, but also Germany as a country where people just seem to be a bit more pessimistic in terms of the outlook.
Thank you. And then finally, one question on the U.S. launch. You mentioned previously that you are currently in the plans for launching in the U.S. Could you elaborate a bit on your expectations for 2023 in terms of the U.S. market?
On one hand, of course, there's massive potential. You can be as big as you could dream of in the U.S. We've taken a very cautious approach because, of course, we want to drive with profit. So far, the Amazon launch in the U.S. is going according to plan. We've sold out all our products, which of course tells you that we're very, very well cautious because, of course, that means that we didn't ship enough. So it's really shipping some stuff, building the brand site, selling it out, ordering it again. And of course, now the next delivery is coming this week to Amazon. So we have a long-term plan. And we believe that long-term, this is going to be our biggest growth opportunity by far.
But only if we take it one day at a time, one week at a time, and making slow, strong, profitable progress and not getting carried away and then simply ship too much stuff. That will drive complexity, returns, and all kinds of stuff. So it's a very slow approach that is working according to plan. And we see massive, massive potential. But again, looking for 2023 and 2024, it's still going to be a very small share of our overall business.
Sounds very exciting. Thank you so much for joining us here at Erik Penser Bank today.
Brilliant, brilliant. Thank you so much. And hey, don't forget to get the workout done today. And of course, also to buy shares. I guess you can say that, huh? Yeah, let's do that. Have a great Monday. Thanks, man. Bye.