TSMA Yearbook 2018

40 2018 Yearbook Wholesale production of sports equipment, apparel, and footwear continue to closely follow fluctuations in the nation’s Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP). As the country’s economic health has improved post-2008 recession, the volume of wholesale sports and fitness production has also increased. Sports equipment production is very sensitive to macroeconomic fluctuations, and it likely serves as the best – and most conservative – indicator of the industry’s production health. Sports and fitness participants are most likely to spend money on apparel – footwear and clothing remain the top two sports/recreation-related expenditures. Overall, the percentage of participants who spent money on sports and fitness declined year over year from 2015 to 2016, as they did the previous year. Compared to the population of sports and fitness participants as a whole, a significantly greater percentage of Millennials spent money on related expenditures last year. More than half of Millennial participants spent on clothing and footwear.