Increasing sneaker sales in Asia
... As Koreans are becoming more aware of the importance of the quality of life like health and leisure, the number of marathon clubs nationwide surged up to 400 last year and their members amounted to 300,000, according to Y-Times, an online news site. The 6th Seoul Marathon Race 2003 held on March 2 in the Han River Citizen Park in Yoido was packed with about 13,000 amateur marathoners, up 43 times from 308 in the first race in 1998. ``The age range of marathoners has also become large for the past few years and people in their 30s to those in their 50s are participating. Such radically expanded customer base in age and gender has expanded the local running footwear market up to 2 trillion won,ĄŻĄŻ Jo added. Growing market demand drove up the sales growth of New Balance that entered the local market in 2001. The company is a relatively new comer here but when it comes to footwear sales in the U.S., New Balance ranked second after Nike in 2002. ``Its sales topped 2.6 billion won during the first year in Korea and they grew by 400 percent in the following year. Despite the economic slowdown, we expect sales to double this year,ĄŻĄŻ Jo said. He added New Balance was placed second last year after Asics, a Japanese sports goods brand, in the sales ranking of running shoes here, staying ahead of spor...