Sunwear: Nike style Airelon for Marchon Top and shorts: Nike

SUNWEAR
The Women�s Movement
Growing ranks of female athletes are demanding better-fitting products specifically geared to their needs. The proper product is entering the market, but is your dispensary catering to this potential profit center?
By Erinn Morgan

Their numbers are increasing rapidly on the courts, trails, fields, courses, and on the roads in both a leisurely and competitive nature. The female athlete is here to stay and her power can no longer be ignored. She desires good-looking and better-fitting sports clothing that functions well. She wants sports equipment�golf clubs, a mountain bike, or snowshoes�that fits her body dynamics and enhances performance. Thus, we cannot think for a minute that she doesn�t also demand high-performance sports sunwear that fits smaller faces and bridges.

�The incredible demand is the reason we got into women�s sports eyewear,� says Andy Towns, the sunglass buyer at Pacific Eyes and Ts, a sunglass, t-shirt, clothing, and accessories chain of 38 stores located in Hawaii, Nevada, Arizona, and the San Diego and Los Angeles areas. �It�s real simple. Women just come in and ask for it.�

Dispensers can realize a new profit center and better serve existing customers if they can offer an assortment of women�s specific sports frames. �The main thing is just to have a really good product mix,� says Bret Hunter, owner of Eyetech Sports Optical in Lakewood, Colo. �You can�t have just one or two styles and simply say, �This is for a smaller face.� You really need one or two styles from each company to make an impact.�

The first factor to identify is which sports your female customers are participating in. Is your geographic area big for golfing and tennis or rock climbing and hiking?

A look at the emerging sports for women�as well as participation statistics�will unveil some of the mystery surrounding women and sports.

	Goggles: Rec Specs style RS HS2 for Liberty Optical Top and shorts: Adidas

The Numbers Tell the Story

In the past several years, we have seen the launch of numerous sports magazines for women, such as Sports Illustrated for Women and Outside for Women. A plethora of women�s specific sports apparel companies have also entered the market and existing companies have launched women�s-only lines. For example, Marmot�a maker of outdoor clothing and backpacks�introduced 33 products made specifically for women in its Spring 2001 collection. Red Feather snowshoes introduced its first-ever women-specific snowshoe this year. Spalding has even introduced a golf ball made specifically for women.

While numbers of women are increasing their activity levels and their interest in sports products, most experts say that this group still does not want to be marketed to as �women.� According to the SGMA report, Adidas created a new running shoe designed and engineered specifically to work with the female body structure�including wider hips, less muscle mass, and lower weight. Despite the specific nature of the shoe, Adidas decided not to market it with a campaign announcing a product made especially for women. In fact, some say that many women feel a �women specific� product is most likely not as technically advanced and high quality as a man�s or unisex product. Thus, Adidas simply introduced the shoe directly through women�s sporting goods stores under the name Response.

Women of different ages also want different things in terms of products and marketing. According to Faith Popcorn, the guru of trend reporting, in her new book EVEolution, teen women want the shopping experience to be fun while twentysomethings want solid information about benefits and qualities without hype. Women in their 30s, she says, want timesaving conveniences; the earn-a-lot-spend-a-lot boomers want individual attention and one-on-one interaction; and those over 54 have more time and money to spend and will pay more for the products which are appropriate for themselves.

Sunwear: Carrera style CA 4886/SP for S�filo Top and bike shorts: Nike

The Eyewear Philosophy

Additionally, some say if the products are right, women are willing to purchase multiple pairs for different sports. �A lot of them will buy glasses for a specific sport,� says Hunter.

Women also seem to be open to higher-priced goods. �I sell in a very similar price range for women�it�s between $75 and $200, depending on what lenses they want,� says Hunter. �But I try to sell on usage and not price. I could probably sell the Smith Toasters [with a lens-changing system] all day long to women athletes, but if the customer is not going to actually change their lenses I won�t waste their time.�

According to those dispensers committed to women�s sports eyewear sales, there is quite a lot of product available on the market for women specifically. Hunter notes Rudy Project, Spy, Zeal Optics (whose female owner was a pro mountain bike racer), Gatorz aluminum glasses, and the Adidas running glass for women. Towns notes that his best-selling sports brands for women are Velvet and Angel�both targeted to surfers and snowboarders.

Skip Flynn, framebuyer and special programs manager at Archdale and More Eyecare in Colorado Springs, says he sells a lot of wrap styles in metals and zyl because they fit women better. �They are smaller, the width is narrower and they have a smaller bridge, plus they are also not catching the eyelashes on the lenses,� he says.

He also notes that his female customers are more interested in the technical functions of glasses and they want to be educated about them before making a purchase.

It is most likely that this potential profit center�women�s sports eyewear�will see nothing but growth.

�We are seeing a definite and strong increased interest,� says Towns of Pacific Eyes and Ts. The question is if you�and your dispensary�will be ready to rise to the challenge.

Sunwear: Adidas a-18 a124 for Silhouette Top, skirt, and sweater: Fila