SGMA: THE GRAY HAS THE GREEN
Byline: Georgia Lee
ATLANTA — Youth may get the attention, but age has the bucks, and that’s hard to ignore.
The over-50 crowd is the next frontier for sports and fitness marketing. According to the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association, the over-50 population, now at 68 million in the U.S., will grow to 102 million by the year 2000. In 1996, this group spent an estimated $800 billion in total, and controlled 42 percent of total consumer income.
Aging baby boomers, not content with rocking chair activities, are taking up youth-oriented sports such as in-line skating, snowboarding, karate and soccer. Groups enthusiastically demonstrating their skills at the Super Show included:
Babes on Blades, a Loomis, Calif.-based team of over 300 women in-line skaters over 50 years old.
The Atlanta Avengers, an over-70 men’s softball team.
The Tucson Hot Flashes, an over-50 tap-dancing troupe from Arizona.
The Recycled Teenagers, a Minot, N.D., fitness club emphasizing low-impact dance, step classes and aquacise — swimming pool aerobics — all for people over 50.
The SGMA, together with the President’s Council on Fitness, unveiled an “Active and Ageless” resource guide with over 1,000 such listings.
Manufacturers agree that they’re missing the boat in not addressing the older population. “The industry concentrates on 25-year-olds and under,” said Gilda Marx, president, Gilda Marx, a Los Angeles-based bodywear line. “We’re preparing to address an older woman’s needs, in fit, styling and performance.”
Clearly the need exists, according to Sandy Adsit, 56, a member of Babes on Blades. “All I ever see is skinny little-girl things,” she said. “I need larger waists, contour bras and clothes that fit women. I can’t find them, and nobody I know can either.”