/EINPresswire.com/ Retailers for women’s apparel have evidently found a sweet spot for sales. The sportswear market for women athletes is successfully moving forward, relatively unaffected by an overall lackluster economy. Included in the sportswear market boom are novelty athletic socks and women’s athletic socks
Retailers for women’s apparel have evidently found a sweet spot for sales. The sportswear market for women athletes is successfully moving forward, relatively unaffected by an overall lackluster economy. Consumer research group NPD reports that the women’s segment of sportswear and sporting goods is booming. It grew 16 percent last year (2010).
Included in the sportswear market boom are novelty athletic socks and womens athletic socks, especially those for the female sports market. According to Just-Style.com, “During this time, the athletic footwear market was the powerhouse of growth, expanding almost exactly twice as much as the active sportswear sector in terms of dollar value.”
A big part of the increase in the sportswear market for women’s athletic socks can be attributed to the popularity of soccer for high school girls, as well as the college female athletes participating in soccer. These young women are looking for unique and stylish novelty athletic socks to complement their uniforms. Forget the days of boring solid colored women’s athletic socks. The trend now is to be as adventurous as possible with athletic socks made with wild colors and designs.
“While the number of girls and women participating in sports have continued to increase, many programs are looking for unique methods of accessorizing to add a novel look to their existing uniforms. Creatively appealing items like colorful, active-design sports socks have provided an economic answer particularly for youth and scholastic sports team programs, said Frank Milligan, President, the She Plays Sports Group.”
Freddie Galiote, president of Soccer City Outlet, Inc., reports that for his company, “The biggest sellers in socks are the Red Lion athletic socks in all designs, although the pink cancer awareness socks are also a big hit with the girl and boys soccer teams.”
Red Lion Products manufacturer, Standard Merchandising confirms that it’s seen dramatic increases in sales of its pink and pink ribbon athletic socks. Standard Merchandising Co. owner Lee Tarnoff, said, “These same styles of pink ribbon socks in both children and women’s sizes are enabling us to make larger contributions to organizations that are involved with breast cancer research. We have continued to add new styles including a new pink plaid sock that will be sold both with a knit in ribbon and without the ribbon.”
Evidently women’s sportswear isn’t just for on the field either. According to a report at bplans.com, “The growth of the sportswear industry is particularly marked among female consumers, who now see themselves as more athletic and have begun to wear these collections as street clothes. Since women are more ‘outfit-oriented’ than men when it comes to exercise clothing, they represent a target clientele for this industry. The junior market segment is also of primary important in this industry, as sportswear is often tied in to fashion.”
Will the demand for active sportswear and athletic socks continue? Just-Style is predicting, “In the recovery phase from 2009-2012, the combined market for active sportswear and athletic footwear is forecast to move from US $142.13bn to US $153.52bn. Growth will accelerate each year, rising to 3.6% in the Olympic year of 2012.”
About Standard Merchandising Co:
Red Lion Products offers top quality novelty athletic socks in the most creative designs in the apparel and accessory marketplace.
Manufacturing socks in the U.S. since 1978, Standard Merchandising’s knitting plant in Reading, Pennsylvania produces socks for a number of very well-known labels, but today its main focus is on the development of its own brands. Besides Red Lion, other Standard Merchandising Co. brands include b.ella, Nouvella, QTFeet, and E.G.Smith.
Since 1978, Standard Merchandising Co. has been putting their sock manufacturing know how and experience to the test, producing it’s well known and loved novelty athletic socks as well as luxury socks of the finest imported yarns. It’s also a family owned business; the current owners are the third generation to own and run the business, which was started in 1922.
For more information call (856) 964-9700 or visit www.standardmerchandisingco.com.
Media Contact:
Michelle Howe
Standard Merchandising Co
(856) 964-9700
http://www.standardmerchandisingco.com/
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