Last Word

by Erinn Morgan

Extremely Good News

Sports eyewear statistics paint a pretty picture of sports eyewear buyers and their purchasing habits. According to Board-Trac, Inc., a syndicated market research company that tracks the purchasing habits and lifestyles of those who participate in and are influenced by board sports (www.board-trac.com), the following numbers reveal the optical habits of extreme athletes.

Skateboarding

$34 The average amount spent on sunglasses for the overall sample.  

$54 What skaters in the over-20 age group spent on average on their last pair of sunglasses. This is $19 more than the average of the younger age groups.

80% The percentage of total respondents who purchase one pair of sunglasses in a year. This is a higher percentage than in 2004, when it was closer to 75 percent,

an indication that skateboarders are

purchasing fewer pairs of sunglasses.

(From Board-Trac 2006 Skateboarding Report)

Snowboarding

$68 The average a snowboarder spends on a pair of sunglasses.

$71 The price of a male snowboarder�s average sunglass purchase.

$60 The price of a female snowboarder�s average sunglass purchase.

75% Percentage of respondents who purchase one pair of sunglasses yearly; 18 percent purchase two pairs of sunglasses per year. The average number of sunglasses per year is 1.4.

1.6 Pairs of sunglasses purchased by females, slightly more sunglasses than males� 1.3 pairs.

(From Board-Trac 2005 Snowboarding Report)

Waveriding

$63 The average spent for sunglasses by participants ages 13 to 19.

$88 The average participants ages 40 to 49 spend on sunglasses.

$74 Male participant spending on sunglasses.

$63 Female participant spending on sunglasses.

$17 The increase in spending from 2004 to 2005/2006 for a pair of sunglasses.

(From Board-Trac 2005-2006 Waveriding Report)