With the growing concern about safety in sports, the demand for sports protective equipment is increasing across the world. The growing incidence of fatal injuries in sports has prompted regulating bodies to opt for solutions that can help avert such injuries and ensure safety while playing different types of sports. Here also, technology has a major role to play. Technological innovations have been instrumental in developing advanced sports protective equipment for ensuring a greater level of safety.
The global sports protective equipment market was valued $7,518 million in 2018. The market is expected to reach a size of $10,171 million by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 3.9%. The market experienced a slowdown after the global financial crisis, but has been recovering steadily since then.
The growth of the market will be propelled in the coming days by factors such as growing awareness about maintaining health and wellbeing, increasing participation in outdoor sports by the youth, and the rising popularity of e-commerce websites and apps for online shopping.
Eminence of national and international sports events and increased sports activities at school, college, and university level will further drive the growth of the global sports equipment market. In addition to these, continuous product development and enhancement through R&D activities and various mandatory regulations set forth by regulatory bodies will also increase the demand for sports protective equipment.
Consumer disposable income has been growing continuously in emerging economies and this is expected to have a positive impact on the sports equipment market growth. However, the growth of the market may experience some setbacks due to declining profit margins at brick-and-mortar stores. The availability of low-quality and counterfeit products can also restrict the growth of the market to some extent.
The global sports protective equipment market has been dominated by developed economies like Europe and North America and this is likely to continue in the coming years as well. In 2018, Europe and North America together accounted for more than 65% of the total market size. The dominance of these two regions can be explained by the existence of a well-developed sports culture.
The U.S was holding the largest percentage of sports protective equipment market share in the year 2018. In the coming years, the Asia-Pacific region is likely to witness a significant rise in the demand for sports protective equipment, owing to the rising popularity of sports like football in the region.
Some of the major players operating in the global sports equipment market are, Adidas Ag, Nike Inc., Puma SE, Vista Outdoor, BRG Sports, Xenith, Under Armour Inc., Amer Sports Corporation, Asics Corporation, Shock Doctor (Bregal Partners), Harrow Sports Inc., Bauer Hockey Inc., Palmgard International Inc., Riddell Sports Group, and Warrior Sports