Athletic-styled shoes are a widely used product; in a twelve-month period, 59 percent of women and 52 percent of men bought shoes in this category. Women buy more shoes in general. Among women, the propensity for buying athletic shoes is greatest among women aged 25-34, but is high and fairly constant among all age groups save those over 65, among whom only about a third buy a pair in a 12-month period. Athletic shoe buying is nearly constant through a broad income range, only dropping sharply among lowest-income consumers, who cannot afford them.
Family status of women customers has a relatively limited effect, except that working mothers are strikingly less likely to buy athletic shoes for themselves. Figures for working versus nonworking childless women are not available. Regional variations are slight, though purchases of athletic shoes are lowest in the Midwest and highest in the West.
Men show a slightly lower propensity to buy athletic shoes, which may mean not that they wear them less than women do, but that men are less motivated to buy new shoes. Between ages 18 and 54, the propensity for buying athletic shoes is nearly constant, between 54 percent and 58 percent buying a pair in a 12-month period. Buying drops off for those aged 55 and up, and only about a third of men aged 65 or over buy a pair in a 12-month period. We can speculate that this dropoff among seniors, for both men and women, reflects attitudes of the pre-boomer generation.
As with women, men's shoe-buying is nearly constant save for those with poverty-level incomes. Likewise, regional variations are slight, though in contrast to women, propensity is highest in the Midwest and lowest in the West and South.
LA Gear's strongest market is women under. Among women in the age range 18-44, around 22 percent buy LA Gear shoes in a 12-month period; purchasing rates in the older groups drop off steadily,
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