
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, February 21, 1991                   TAG: 9102210147
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C/1   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ATLANTA                                 LENGTH: Medium

INDUSTRY SPORTS GOODS

The sporting goods business opens its annual star-studded trade show Thursday with the recession limiting the spending power of the industry's best friends: The folks who buy all those fancy sneakers and sweats just because they look good.

The industry, which doubled its wholesale sales during the 1980s, is predicting 6 percent growth in 1991, which would be a performance characterized by one official Wednesday as "a good, but by no means great, year."

John D. Riddle, president of the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association, said this year is shaping up as difficult because of increasing pressures on the retail market.

"The economic slowdown and credit crunch will put excessive pressure on an already saturated retail market," Riddle said.

The 85,000 people expected to attend the four-day "Super Show" will see the usual array of sports superstars helping 2,000 exhibitors get their exercise machines, running shoes, warm-up jackets and tennis racket on the shelves. Among the stars lined up for the show are football's Joe Montana, baseball's Dale Murphy and former NBA great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Manufacturers also will introduce dozens of new products, ranging from the BeFore Play line of baby bottles shaped like balls and bats to a device that keeps shoelaces permanently tied.

While the nation's interest in fitness continues, the industry depends a great deal on people who buy expensive athletic shoes for nothing more strenuous than a trip to the mall or don a jogging suit to gulp a beer and watch a ball game on television.

These consumers have helped make apparel and footwear capture a combined 60.5 percent of the $30.8 billion sporting goods industry in 1990.

"Most athletic footwear sold now is not going to see the court, be it basketball or tennis," said David S. Leibowitz, director of research at American Securities Corp. in New York.

"As for warm-up suits and sweats, as a friend of mine observed: It's a good thing all the people wearing these in the grocery stores aren't going to play tennis - you couldn't get a court," he said.

With the economy in a downturn, he said, these non-athletic consumers, attracted to sporting goods because of their fashion value, could change their buying habits.

"What I'm suggesting is the fashion side is the more at-risk side of the equation," Leibowitz said.

by CNB