ORLANDO, Fla. — Vendors at the 21st and final edition of the Super Show highlighted women’s sports and fitness apparel as a star category in a sporting goods industry that faces challenges of consolidation and intense competition.
Women continue to be prime targets for athletic firms, along with Baby Boomers and the growing number of overweight Americans. The fusion of performance and fashion, led by companies such as Under Armour, has boosted sports and fitness apparel sales, which reached $44.6 billion at retail last year, according to the Sporting Goods Manufacturer Association.
The challenge, said show participants, lies in merchandising and marketing to women despite the male-dominated mind-set among big sporting goods retailers. The Super Show, sponsored by the Washington-based SGMA, ended its three-day run here Wednesday at the Orange County Convention Center.
With fewer than 450 exhibitors and a total attendance of around 20,000 at this edition, the show has declined considerably since its heyday 10 years ago, when the event, held in Atlanta, regularly drew around 100,000 people, including top athletes for personal appearances. After this final edition, starting next year, the show will split into twice-yearly events, held in Las Vegas and on the East Coast in undetermined locations, to coincide with buying seasons.
“During the huge growth period for the sporting goods industry during the Nineties, the Super Show, with its huge exhibits, made sense,” said SGMA president Tom Cove. “It was great while it lasted. But now, in a mature industry, companies are looking for more return on their investment.”
Cove said smaller shows would target new retail channels, such as independent specialty stores, team sports, international buyers and categories beyond the big-box sporting goods retailers that were key to the Super Show.
At a state-of-the-industry speech Monday, Cove said wholesale sales of sports apparel and equipment were up 6.8 percent to $55.7 billion in 2005.
Most encouraging is “the Under Armour Effect,” said Cove, referring to the success of the popular line of men’s and women’s performancewear. “Under Armour is driving people in stores, where they are paying full price.”
If manufacturers keep fusing fashion and function, and the economy is on an upward swing, the industry should post similar gains for 2006, Cove said. The biggest challenge will be the fight for market share, which lends itself to further consolidation.
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“All eyes are on the Reebok-Adidas merger and how that will play out,” Cove said, adding that the big merger trend may have slowed, but smaller companies are highly valued, and open to activity, especially in the private equity market.
Hot markets include Baby Boomers, as evidenced by the rise in home fitness products and health club memberships. There is also growth potential for product and marketing for large-size customers. Retail sales of licensed products continue to grow, up 26 percent from 2001 to 2005, to $13 billion.
Women fans are a prime target for the National Basketball Association’s nba4her collection, which launched team jerseys and new accessories, including more novelty fashion jewelry such as toe rings to attract younger consumers. Available in team colors and in pink and white, jerseys feature piping and glitter print, with side panels for a contoured feminine fit.
Product, sales and marketing has to be specific to women, said Sal LaRocca, NBA senior vice president, global merchandising group.
“You can’t just make men’s product smaller and sell it the same as men’s because women buy differently,” LaRocca said. “We’re developing shop concepts and point-of-sale materials, and we’re trying to educate retailers, who are used to doing business in a male-dominated industry.”
Moving Comfort, a division of Russell Athletic, reported a sales increase of 25 percent this year, based on an expanded product line that included more fashion details such as prints, along with performance features such as moisture resistance.
To broaden distribution beyond sporting goods chains, Moving Comfort is targeting more catalogues such as Title Nine and L.L. Bean, along with independent specialty retailers.
Specialty retailer Gina Newbold-Crosby, owner of the Sporting Edge, a Kearney, Neb., sporting goods and apparel store, bought licensed product for women from College Concepts and others at the show.
“I’m not happy that the Super Show is going away,” she noted. “I don’t like the idea of making it into two shows. There are too many shows already.”