Panthers, NFL merchandise scoring more with women

Shoppers looking for Carolina Panthers merchandise have a lot more choices than they used to. Along with Jake Delhomme jerseys, shoppers can now buy pink caps, pale blue polos and "I (heart) Panthers" earrings.

Nationally, women's NFL merchandise sales are skyrocketing this year. Reebok reports its sales of women's items are up 90 percent; apparel maker VF says its sales are increasing more than 55 percent in that category.

And locally, the Panthers' season -- with a 7-3 record, they're tied for first with Tampa Bay in the NFC South -- has been fueling an increase of women's Panthers items including fitted T-shirts, said Panthers merchandise manager Sarah Strohschein, who oversees the team store at Bank of America Stadium.

Overall, sales of Panthers items are up 17 percent this year on NFLshop.com, the league's official online shopping site, a spokesman said. The site doesn't release figures on women's items. But Strohschein said sales of women's items have doubled at the Panthers team store in the past two years, and now make up 15 percent of its overall business.

The reason for the rapid increase is simple, she said: After years of neglecting the category, the NFL is finally licensing more items aimed at women, with softer colors, better-fitting clothing and expanded jewelry items.

"The fan base is definitely there. There's just been a lag in the products available," she said.
Susan Rothman, vice president for consumer products at the NFL, said the line of women's products will expand further in 2006, with items including sequined jerseys. "It's a business we're trying to foster," she said.

It makes good business sense, according to figures compiled by the NFL: More than 45 million women watch NFL games each weekend, and football tops baseball, NASCAR and basketball as the favorite pro sport among women.

Rothman named two reasons why women's products have lagged. One, the entire NFL product business was hurting in the late 1990s. NFL apparel, just like any other fashion, has cyclical popularity and it was on a downswing then, she said, so nobody was keen on introducing new products for a few years. And, retailers were skeptical the items were needed, thinking women were happy buying men's jerseys.
But Jennifer Cory of Charlotte is among Panthers fans who are glad to have more choices. She bought a fitted women's T-shirt with Panthers written in blue glitter across the chest for $26. "I just like the basic design of it," she said.

Rothman said Charlotteans are fortunate -- their team's colors and logo work well for women's merchandise. "Your colors translate into pastels beautifully," she said.
Women's Favorite Sports

According to The Harris Poll, here are the sports women named as their favorite:
1. NFL 30% 2. MLB 14% 3. College football 10% 4. NASCAR 8% 5. NBA 7%