Sports to Sportswear
American consumers bought $43.7 billion in sports apparel last year, according to a new report released by investment banking company The Mercanti Group. Sports apparel sales represented nearly 23 percent of the overall apparel market, according to Mercanti’s most recent monthly research report in the Mercanti Chronicle. Sales increased nearly 6 percent in 2006 from 2005, fueled, in part, by the popularity of sports apparel as everyday wear, not just for fitness and sports activities, the report said. The Mercanti Group is based in New York, Los Angeles and Minneapolis.
