Women and girls have come a long way. In 1995, a scantily clad woman in a snowboarding magazine sold beer-or worst case-men’s snowboarding apparel. But now, ten years later, ads in vertical magazines show women carving and ripping it up just like the guys.

This change in perception and the accompanying boom in women’s sports spending is not surprising to Kathleen Gasperini of Label Networks, an editor, publisher and writer and the nation’s leading market research analyst for the action sports market. “Girls are now active participants in the lifestyle,” she said.

Gasperini spoke about the surging marketplace and emerging trends for the girls and young women 13-24 age group at the 2005 Volvo SportsDesign Forum, the prelude to the ispo winter 05 trade fair. A sold-out crowd of more than 700 people attended the forum, which focused entirely on the women’s sports market and featured dynamic presentations by former Olympic skier Claudia Riegler, U.S. ultramarathon champion Pam Reed, Motorola iDEN’s Moni Wolf, Heida Birgisdottir of hot-selling girls streetwear label Nikita, Jake Burton Carpenter and Donna Carpenter of Burton Snowboards, and Barbara Strobl-Wiederhut of Salomon.

Gasperini’s presentation was the linchpin of the day-long event. “What influences the female youth of today?” she asked the captivated crowd. “Individualism. Expressionism. Creativity,” she stated, showing slide after slide of images of active young women from vastly different cultures.

She also noted the huge role technology is playing in the decisions of how girls and young women spend their money. This was bolstered by the presentation of Motorola iDEM designer Moni Wolf, who is responsible for designing cell phones with patterns, colors and features suitable to girls and women.

“Technology and, in particular, portable real-time devices, have changed the landscape of spending patterns among young women,” Gasperini said. “They’re now spending money for many of these devices instead of clothes, so the clothes have to be particularly edgy and well-matched to their lifestyle choices.

“Girls today are so much more demanding and so much more savvy than just ten years ago. Designing for young women today has to include a global perspective. They have an innate sense brands that are cool and core. They seek them out and are very brand conscious,” she added.

Gasperini had the crowd taking notes as quickly as she talked when she displayed a five-year forecast for girls ages 13 to 24 in seven different regions-the U.S., Germany, Spain, Italy, France, Great Britain and Japan. The numbers and choices differed greatly, but one thing was clear: The days of girls seeking out more action sports are here to stay.

“There is incredible youth energy going on in women’s sports,” she said. “More and more, girls are going to be seeking creativity in their expression-and more sports for this expression.

“I think that in five years, the story of women’s sports in America will be almost equal funding in schools, and a much bigger share of shelf space in the stores because of the money potential in this market.”

Then Gasperini shared a little surprise the girls’ and young women’s markets will have for retailers in the United States, Europe and Asia. “Consumers will expect what they want,” she said. “In five years, they will be in far more control than the retailers in stores. If they know what they want and you don’t have it, they’ll go online.”

Gasperini stated that women specific designs have to satisfy several niche markets and design is key. “Products have to be targeted not only for the core enthusiast, but also for the girls who aspire to that lifestyle.”

A Woman, Her Desires & Necessity: The Nikita Story
Gasperini’s perspective on the women’s market was clearly illustrated by a presentation that soon followed.
No longer does a girl who can carve up the mountain want to wear her older sister’s clothes. She wants lifestyle apparel that truly reflects her lifestyle choices-athletic, feisty, and fiercely independent.

That’s what Icelandic rider Heida Birgisdottir sought to create when she launched Nikita, “Streetwear for Girls Who Ride.”

Her boyfriend and the general manager of Nikita, Runar Omarrson, took the stage and explained the catalyst for starting the company. “As a young snowboarding athlete in Iceland, Heida could never find the clothes she wanted to wear. Working retail by day, she began to design and make clothes at night,” he said.

Taking a huge gamble that other girls had the same trouble finding apparel that matched their lifestyle, the pair decided to close their two retail stores in Iceland and form Nikita Clothing. The five-year-old company now distributes to 30 countries. It was among the busiest booths at the ispo winter 05 show, which drew 60,000 visitors to Munich. “During the first two days, we had to turn a lot of people away,” Omarrson said. “Right now, Heida is designing 150 pieces of clothing and accessories for two seasons each year.”

The young entrepreneur delighted his audience at the Volvo SportsDesign forum with his self-deprecating remarks as he described his research in preparing for his talk. That extensive research consisted of taking pictures of Heida’s closet and his closet-then simply doing the math. With the two photos side by side on the ICM’s Centre’s screen, he concluded women buy 3.4 times the amount of clothes men did, then proceeded to explain the complexities of the female consumer: While men are content to merely “buy” clothes –women think of clothes as “prey” and actually go “on the hunt” to select the right clothes.

Omarrson’s talk clearly illustrated factors to consider when designing and marketing sports-related or sports inspired clothes for women. “We are in constant contact with our customer and we listen very, very closely,” he emphasized, adding, “Heida is also a constant source of inspiration. As a snowboarder and champion motocross racer, Heida knew exactly what she would want to wear. Now she has the clothes she needs.”

Gasperini also presented recently completed market research on teh topic. Label Network posed the question, “If you can learn a new sport in the next five years, what will it be?” to girls and women ages 13-24. One of the most surprising features was how much the choices differed by country-and how much Eastern activities such as yoga and martial arts are moving into the girls’ scene.

A look at the percentage breakdowns by country:

    United States

  • Skateboarding-18.5%
  • Surfing-9.1%
  • American football or soccer-7.4%
  • Tennis-6.5%
  • Lacrosse-6.3%
  • Hockey-6.0%
  • Snowboarding-4.5%

    France

  • Fitness-11.7%
  • Dance-9.2%
  • Tennis-8.3%
  • Surfing-7.8%
  • Swimming-7.8%
  • Martial Arts-5.8%
  • Skiing-5.8%
  • Snowboarding-5.8%

    United Kingdom

  • Tennis-9.5%
  • Yoga-9.5%
  • Pilates-9.5%
  • Snowboarding-7.9%
  • Kickboxing-5.9%
  • Soccer-5.5%

    Spain

  • Skiing-12.8%
  • Swimming-11.5%
  • Tennis-10.4%
  • Snowboarding-6.3%
  • Surfing-5.2%

    Italy

  • Tennis-11.8%
  • Swimming-11.8%
  • Dance-11.0%
  • Martial Arts-6.1%
  • Volleyball-5.3%
  • Soccer-5.3%
  • Skiing-4.5%
  • Surfing-3.7%

    Germany

  • Surfing-10.0%
  • Snowboarding-8.4%
  • Volleyball-7.4%
  • Dance-5.1%
  • Skateboarding-4.5%

    Japan

  • Surfing-27.5%
  • Wakeboarding-13.6%
  • Skateboarding-12.9%
  • Judo -12.2%
  • Snowboarding-4.1%