As with many companies, our year-over-year comparisons are affected by the significant COVID impacts we experienced in 2020.
Priced at $160, this product is delivering well against our expectations.
Globally, our e-commerce business was up 69% in the first quarter, representing approximately 45% of our total direct-to-consumer business and included solid growth across all regions with better-than-expected conversion.
Revenue was up 35% to $1.3 billion compared to the prior year.
From a channel perspective, our wholesale revenue was up 35%.
Our direct-to-consumer business increased 54%, led by a 69% growth in e-commerce and 44% growth in our owned and operated retail stores.
Our licensing business was up 9%, driven primarily by North America.
By product type, apparel revenue was up 35%, driven by our train and run categories.
Footwear was up 47%, driven by our run and team sports categories.
And the accessories business was up 73%, with most of the growth being driven by sports masks.
From a regional and segment perspective, first-quarter revenue in North America was up 32%, driven by growth in our wholesale business, which was driven in part by Q4 to Q1 COVID-19-impacted order shifts.
In EMEA, revenue was up 41%, driven by growth in wholesale, led by our distributor business, including the Q4 to Q1 COVID-19-impacted order shift as well as strength in e-commerce.
Revenue in Asia Pacific was up 120%, with balanced growth across all channels, including our wholesale business, which partly benefited from Q4 to Q1 COVID-19-impacted order shifts.
In Latin America, revenue was down 9%, driven primarily by lower wholesale results, partially offset by growth in e-commerce.
First-quarter gross margin was significantly better-than-expected, with a 370 basis point improvement to 50%, driven by approximately 270 basis points of pricing improvements due to lower promotional activity within our DTC channel, along with lower promotions and markdowns within our wholesale business.
In addition, we experienced 130 basis points of supply chain benefits, including improved inventory levels resulting in lower reserves and product costing improvements.
And finally, we realized 50 basis points of favorable channel mix due to a lower mix of off-price sales and a higher mix of DTC.
Offsetting these improvements was about 140 basis points of negative gross margin impact related to the absence of MyFitnessPal, a factor we expect to impact us throughout this year.
SG&A expenses were down 7% to $515 million, primarily due to lower legal and marketing costs versus the prior year.
Relative to our 2020 restructuring plan, we recorded $7 million of charges in the first quarter, an amount less than we had anticipated due to slower-than-expected execution.
Including Q1, we've now realized $480 million of pre-tax restructuring and related charges.
As detailed last September, this plan contemplates total charges ranging from $550 million to $600 million.
We expect to incur approximately $35 million to $40 million of charges in the second quarter as we work toward completing this program in the second half of 2021.
Moving on, our first-quarter operating income was $107 million.
Excluding restructuring and impairment charges, adjusted operating income was $114 million.
After tax, we realized net income of $78 million or $0.17 of diluted earnings per share during the quarter.
Excluding restructuring charges and the noncash amortization of debt discount on our senior convertible notes, our adjusted net income was $75 million or $0.16 of adjusted diluted earnings per share.
And finally, inventory at the end of the first quarter was down 9% to $852 million, a clear indicator of the improvements we have made to drive a more efficient operating model.
And with that said, let's start at the top with revenue, which we expect to be up at a high-teen percentage rate for the full year.
For gross margin, on a GAAP basis, we expect the full year rate to be up approximately 50 basis points against the 2020 adjusted gross margin of 48.6% with benefits from pricing and supply chain efficiency partially offset by the sale of MyFitnessPal, which carried a high gross margin rate.
When combined, these marketing investments and planned higher incentive compensation represent about three-fourth of the increase in our year-over-year SG&A dollars, meaning without them the underlying SG&A is panned up slightly at about 2% to 3% in absolute dollars, which is consistent with the initial outlook we provided earlier this year.
After these factors, we now expect operating income to reach approximately $105 million to $115 million this year or about $230 million to $240 million on an adjusted basis.
Translated to rate, we expect to deliver an operating margin of approximately 2% for an adjusted operating margin of approximately 4.5% in 2021.
All of this takes us to a diluted loss per share of approximately $0.02 to $0.04, or excluding restructuring impacts, about $0.28 to $0.30 of adjusted diluted earnings per share.
For a little more color on the quarterly flow, we expect our second quarter revenue to be up approximately 70% as we lap last year's significantly shuttered retail world, with the highest regional growth seen in North America and Latin America.
Next, we expect Q2 gross margin to be down about 120 to 140 basis points primarily due to the following negative impacts: channel mix, with e-commerce being a considerably lower portion of the overall business when compared to last year; and within the wholesale channel, we expect a higher percentage of off-price sales versus the last year's second quarter when off-price was predominantly closed.
Bringing this to the bottom line, we expect second quarter adjusted operating income to be approximately $40 million to $45 million or about $0.04 to $0.06 of adjusted diluted earnings per share.

Summary:
As with many companies, our year-over-year comparisons are affected by the significant COVID impacts we experienced in 2020.
Revenue was up 35% to $1.3 billion compared to the prior year.
From a regional and segment perspective, first-quarter revenue in North America was up 32%, driven by growth in our wholesale business, which was driven in part by Q4 to Q1 COVID-19-impacted order shifts.
We expect to incur approximately $35 million to $40 million of charges in the second quarter as we work toward completing this program in the second half of 2021.
After tax, we realized net income of $78 million or $0.17 of diluted earnings per share during the quarter.
Excluding restructuring charges and the noncash amortization of debt discount on our senior convertible notes, our adjusted net income was $75 million or $0.16 of adjusted diluted earnings per share.
And with that said, let's start at the top with revenue, which we expect to be up at a high-teen percentage rate for the full year.
All of this takes us to a diluted loss per share of approximately $0.02 to $0.04, or excluding restructuring impacts, about $0.28 to $0.30 of adjusted diluted earnings per share.