Impressions - Sports Fan Retailer - Spring 2014 - 15

ot long ago, women who wanted to show their loyalty to a college or professional sports team
were very limited in their choices
when it came to apparel.
"In the past, sporting goods
companies manufactured smaller versions of men's products for women, yet
they weren't made for a woman's body
or personal appeal," says Tiffany Pearl,
founder of Miss Fanatic, a supplier of licensed National Basketball
Association (NBA) and collegiate
apparel for women. "If you go back
years ago, a men's small-sized T-shirt is
what was available to women in sports
licensed products.
"Now, you can see hair and nail accessories, swimwear, high-heel shoes,
cosmetics and so many more femaledriven items," she says of today's offerings.
"Manufacturers realize the importance
of meeting women's needs and now they
develop products and merchandise designed specifically for women."
NIX NICHE THINKING
Because of a new reverence for the female
consumer, the "shrink-it-and-pink-it" philosophy of offering products for this demographic doesn't cut it in today's game,
says Martin Brochstein, senior vice president of industry relations and information
for the International Licensing Industry
Merchandisers' Association (LIMA).
"There are new fashion trends, and
sports leagues are developing lines of merchandise aimed specifically at women," he
says. "This is such a significant business
that I wouldn't use the phrase 'niche' to
describe it, because women are simply a
major part of the market."
Indeed they are, and their market is
all about dollars, particularly on the
collegiate side of the business.
SportsFan Retailer

"There's no doubt that women are
more invested in sports than at any other time in history and they're making the
purchases to show it," Pearl says. "The
licensed college sports products retail
market accounts for $4.6 billion in sales
annually. According to an ESPN Sports
Poll, 89 million women identify themselves as college sports fans, a number
that tops even the NFL, in which 84.3
million women self-identify as fans. Those
numbers look pretty good to me."
According to IMG College, a collegiate
sports marketing company that represents
more than 200 collegiate properties, including the National Collegiate Athletic
Association (NCAA), the women's apparel retail category has grown by 148%
in the last five years and by 53% in the
last three years. The boom has been so
profound that women's apparel is now
the company's second-largest apparel
category, ranking behind men's/unisex
T-shirts.
"Women's apparel makes up 18% of
our total apparel business and 11% of
our total collegiate licensing business,
which includes apparel and non-apparel," says Andrew Giangola, vice president
of strategic communications for IMG
College. "We estimate women's apparel
retail sales for the CLC collegiate market
were in excess of $350 million in fiscal
year 2012-13.
"We wouldn't consider the women's
market a niche," he continues. "Women
are squarely in the mainstream of the
collegiate licensed merchandise market."
Lauren Polt, founder of chicka-d, a
manufacturer of women's and children's
licensed apparel, concurs with the sentiment that the women's market has
grown considerably, especially in the
last five years. "Companies have started
catering to what women want to wear,

which is not boring T-shirts," she says.
"Women want to look and feel good,
even when supporting their teams. Companies are realizing this and catering to
the demand."
Lisa Palmer, co-founder and creative
director of Lillybee U, a supplier of women's footwear that's available in collegiate
colors, says manufacturers have stepped
up their collective game, in part, because
they now recognize that women are shelling out the money at retail.
"Women are buying for their households, their families, their dorms ...
they're the ones throwing the tailgating
and the family outings together," she
says. "They're looking for items that fit
their everyday style and that's been very
difficult to find in the collegiate market.
THE RIGHT FIT
Lillybee U launched its line of footwear
just last year, after researching the market
for several months prior.
"In general, women are looking for
products that are more subtle, something
other than an item with a huge logo plastered on it," Palmer says. "Girls are more
stylish today, and we didn't feel there was
a true lifestyle brand in the marketplace
- something that employed a little more
color and sophistication than your average sweatshirt."
Lillybee U carries footwear for 64
schools and universities, and is a licensed
partner with the Collegiate Licensing
Co. (CLC) and a member of the National
Association of College Stores.
"We are licensed to use the team's
colors," Palmer says. "There are a lot of
brands that use team colors in their merchandise, but aren't official licensees. We
felt like it was important to do so, even
though it's a very expensive and detailed
process. Fans want that correct color." The
Spring 2014 15

Impressions - Sports Fan Retailer - Spring 2014

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