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Women driving winter sports sales, trends |
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Monday, January 30, 2012 19:06 |
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Roz Groenewoud of Canada rides the pipe on her way to winning the SuperPipe gold Jan. 28, 2012, at the Winter X Games at Buttermilk Mountain. Christian Murdock, The Gazette
Who would have guessed that winter sports would become such a chick magnet, writes Michael Connelly in the Summit Daily News.
From skiing to snowboarding, even snowshoeing, the power of the female purchaser has finally gained the respect of the industry.
“At Burton, we would take the men's jackets and pink them up and shrink them,” said Donna Carpenter, the co-owner and recently named president of snowboarding icon and industry change-agent Burton. “But that doesn't fly. I've said a few times recently: It didn't take me very long to realize that without women in decision-making roles, sitting at the table and deciding on products, we weren't going to succeed.”
Women are responsible for 80 percent of overall spending in sporting goods and apparel, and influence 92 percent of the vacation spending, according to data shared at the SIA Snow Show in Denver last week.
Narrowing the purchase category to just women's products: in 2010-11, women's snow-sports products sold over $940 million.
Women spent $202 million on equipment, another $501 in apparel, and topped it with $239 million in accessories.
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