Category — Women

Having gone out of style in the 1980s, Table Hockey is attracting a new generation of fans, reports Will Connors in the Wall Street Journal (4/23/12). Table Hockey is where players use metal rods to move flat cutouts of players along slots in the table, manipulating them as levers in hopes of landing pucks in the opponent’s net. It was really popular in the 1970s but lost its mojo with the arrival of “videogames and the internet.” The game had survived, to some degree, among middle-aged men, who are now actively recruiting younger players to their ranks. Their pitch is “the sport’s human touch over videogames and smartphone apps.”

Mark Sokolski, 35, says young players are attracted to Table Hockey’s “real-life camaraderie” compared with the digital alternatives. “In videogames, there is no humanity,” he says. However, he showed no mercy when taking on 14-year-old Carter Campbell at the Canadian Table Hockey Championships earlier this year. “I’m gonna stomp this kid,” Mark said. And he did, 5-3 and 5-1. But, in fact, Mark, a middle-school teacher, had introduced Carter to the game in the classroom. Carter was a natural and soon “was beating all the kids his age, and most adults in town, too, at school and in local tournaments.”

Carter sees Table Hockey as a great equalizer. “I’m clearly not that athletic,” he says. “This is a a sport that I can play and I’m actually good at.” The Canadian event, held annually since 1999, drew a record number of participants — 120. Another tourney, the North American Championships meanwhile “drew players from as far away as Denmark and Norway,” and also broke the record for participation, with 48 players. Girls and women are still a rarity at Table Hockey tournaments, but Sue Elias, who says she’s “over 40″ is unintimidated. “One guy started to bleed during our game, he was trying to beat me so badly,” says Sue, observing . “But,” she adds, “I won.”

Offering advice to nursing moms is enabling a small retailer to compete against Target, Babies R Us and Amazon, reports Nicole LaPorte in the New York Times (4/15/12). The Pump Station and Nurtury, a boutique in Santa Monica, California, began in 1986 as a pump-rental and consulting service for nursing moms. Wendy Haldeman and Corky Harvey initially ran the business out of their homes, but moved to an office after “their husbands became tired of panicked women knocking on their doors at 2 a.m. with nursing questions.” Today, the Pump Station offers a wide array of products for moms, each of which Wendy and Corky have checked out and approved. They also offer classes and private consultations for nursing moms.

The concept is certainly on trend: “According to the most recent information available from the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 75 percent of babies in the United States were nursed at birth in 2008, compared with 70 percent in 2000. Nursing is particularly popular with the Pump Station’s biggest demographic: white, college-educated women over 30.” The baby products market has also grown rapidly over the past decade “into a $9.8 billion” industry, and the “avalanche of baby care products” has left “many parents bewildered.” The confusion is not helped by the internet, which “can be cluttered with conflicting information on sleep training and other baby care methods.”

Nor is it necessarily solved by big, retail chains. “When someone is sitting here going, ‘Oh my God, there are 20,000 bottles out there,’ we can tell them, ‘But this bottle is going to be fabulous and will allow Dad to feed the baby and you to go back to work,” says Pump Station chief operating officer Cheryl Petran, a former buyer for Target. Cheryl says that “hundreds of years ago” women discussed nursing “by the campfire,” but that’s no longer an option. “So moms come here,” she says, “and it is the proverbial campfire, where you can talk and share … That’s a part you’re not going to get sitting in an aisle at Target.”

"As Paris is to fashion … so are young women to linguistic innovation," reports Douglas Quenqua in the New York Times (2/28/12). The way some girls talk is "often seen as markers of immaturity or even stupidity," but linguists say they use vocal "embellishments in much more sophisticated ways than people tend to realize." Carmen Fought, a linguistics professor at Pitzer College says young women use certain inflections "as power tools for building relationships." Take, for example, "uptalk," or the habit of posing statements as questions. A 1991 study by University of Pennsylvania linguist Cynthia McLemore "found that senior members of a Texas sorority used uptalk to make junior members feel obligated to carry out new tasks. (‘We have a rush event this Thursday? And everyone needs to be there?’)."

Over the past 20 years, uptalk has spread across boundaries of both age and gender. "I’ve heard grandfathers and grandmothers use it," says linguist David Crystal of Bangor University in Wales. Linguist Penny Eckert of Stanford says one of her students observed Jamba Juice customers and "found that by far the most common uptalkers were fathers of young women. She theorizes that it’s "a way of showing themselves to be friendly and not asserting power in the situation." Linguist Mark Liberman of University of Pennsylvania says that "women tend to be maybe half a generation ahead of males on average" when it comes to verbal innovation. Currently on the horizon is the so-called "vocal fry, also known as creaky voice," which "has been gaining popularity among women since at least 2003."

The vocal fry is "a raspy of croaking sound injected (usually) at the end of a sentence." According to Ikuko Patricia Yuasa of Berkeley, the vocal fry is used to sound "more authoritative" but is also "used to communicate disinterest." As Mark Liberman explains: "It’s a mode of vibration that happens when the vocal cords are relatively lax … So maybe some people use it when they’re relaxed and even bored, not especially … invested in what they’re saying." The vocal fry apparently actually originated with British men, going back as far as 1964 "as a way to denote their superior social standing," which is, like, totally ironic. Then again, a 2011 study "found that while young people tended to use ‘like’ more often than older people, men used it more frequently than women."

Within two short years, Pinterest "has become the favorite website of moms, do-it-yourselfers, home cooks, brides-to-be and others," reports Douglas MacMillan in Bloomberg Businessweek (11/21/11). If you’re not familiar with it (membership is by invitation only) Pinterest is "a kind of social network that centers around finding, collecting and sharing images from across the web." Members can browse each other’s "boards," which "are basically curated collections of photos, usually centered around a topic such as food or clothing."

An overwhelming majority of users — about 70 percent — are women, but the site was co-founded by three guys: Ben Silberman, Paul Sciarra and Evan Sharp. It was Ben, who collected stamps and coins as a kid, who noticed there was no place online where people could collect stuff. "Not everyone’s a writer, so blogging doesn’t make sense for everyone," he says. But coalescing around shared interests occurs naturally, so it’s a way for, say, bridesmaids to share dress ideas, for example.

Pinterest hasn’t made any money yet (it has $37 million in funding), but Ben thinks there’s a natural commercial connection. "People are planning their vacation, they are redecorating their home, they are planning their wardrobe," he says. "They are going to Pinterest to get inspiration for the most important life projects, which correlates to the most important purchasing events in their life." He also thinks Pinterest has something over Google and Amazon in that regard. According to ComScore, Pinterest attracted 3.3 million users in October, up from just 418,000 in May.

With five million members, Ideeli is emerging as the fastest growing "flash-sale" website, reports Jayne O’Donnell in USA Today (11/18/11). It’s still only the fourth-largest of the "flash-sale" sites, so named because they offer "limited-time sales that feature many pieces from one or more designers’ lines." Ideeli’s difference, in part, is that it "often features sales from as many as 40 designers at a time, selling women’s, men’s and children’s clothing, as well as home goods." It’s also different in that it caters to "aspirational" or "mass affluence" shoppers.

This sets Ideeli apart from sites such as Gilt, which is more upscale. "It’s not people looking for that $10,000 Chanel bag, but … an easy update to your wardrobe that’s not going to break the bank," says Ideeli spokesperson Becky Wisdom. Members, who are "mostly women," typically have household incomes of between $50,000 and $250,000. What they’re looking for, says Becky, is a "splash of luxury," at discounts ranging from 30 to 80 percent. But Ideeli deftly "sprinkles in enough high-brow brands" to keep the more affluent shoppers hooked, too.

"Judging by their phenomenal growth, Ideeli does indeed seem to have something for everyone," says Nita Rollins, an Ideeli member who also happens to be an expert in digital marketing. While this can mean great deals for shoppers, Nita says it also demands a certain diligence on their part. "Just as offline sale shoppers are willing to comb the racks and deep dive into the bins for buried treasure, so, too, does the Ideeli shopper believe there is right-priced booty awaiting them, so long as they are willing to scan all the options," she says. Ideeli’s 2010 revenues were $77.7 million.

Harley-Davidson is holding "garage parties" to try to get more women to buy motorcycles, reports James R. Hagerty in the Wall Street Journal (10/31/11). "We’re not trying to be everything to everyone," says Harley cmo Mark-Hans Richer. "We’re trying to be our thing to more people." Having been hammered by the recession, during which "jobless bikers sold their motorcycles or lost them to re-possession, creating a glut of used bikes that depressed sales of new ones," Harley definitely needs to be its thing to more people.

So, women are being courted with wine and Harley’s "550-pound Sportster, retailing for about $8,000," and featuring a lower seat that is said to be easier to handle. Some women think that’s still "too bulky" so Harley is said to be working on smaller bikes — but not so small that they "water down its image as a maker of big, powerful hogs." Lisa Ruschman, who once discouraged her husband from riding because she thought it too dangerous, is among the newly smitten. With her kids in college, she’s decided that she and her husband need a hobby.

"I have a new life now," she says. "This is phase two." Of course, persuading more women won’t be enough to return Harley to health. It also must attract "more minorities, young adults and people outside the US." The estimated median age of a Harley owner was 47 in 2007 — the last year for which Harley offered an estimate. To that end, Harley is promoting a "dark custom" look. "It’s not chrome," says Mark-Hans Richer. "It’s not big." Overseas, Harley is moving into "China, India and Latin America" which Harley hopes will account for 40 percent of its sales by 2014, up from 22 percent five years ago and about a third today.

Growing numbers of fitness-focused brides are inviting their girlfriends to pre-nuptial workout parties, reports Courtney Rubin in the New York Times (10/20/11). For bride-to-be Alyson Luck, this meant inviting eight friends to Flywheel Sports for "an hourlong workout that mixed Pilates, dance and weights." Afterwards they had a little champagne and some mini cupcakes before moving on to "manicures, pedicures and sushi." Exhale Spa in Manhattan says it hosts about four bachelorette parties a month, and LA-based Yoga for Weddings has made a business out of the concept in nine cities.

Christi Masi, a personal trainer who runs Healthy Bride bootcamps in Seattle, says the trend is generational. "People are getting married a little bit older, and they know who they are more and that’s reflected in the bachelorette parties," she says. Casey Fremont Crowe, a recent bride, says she saw the fitness party as "a more productive option," especially for brides who want to be sure they look their best on their big day. "When you’re trying to be really fit and lose weight, you really are thinking of it as every day counts, so why not make working out part of the celebration?"

Casey says she didn’t forgo a "boozy dinner" afterwards, but adds that the workout helped her and her friends feel less guilty about their indulgence. She says none of her friends complained about having to workout — she meets up with many of them at the gym regularly anyway. Indeed, Jay Galluzzo of Flywheel says the idea to host bachelorette parties came from his customers and that birds of a feather spin together. "Often we will recognize two-thirds of the guests as regulars," he says. Even though men comprise 40 percent of Jay’s clientele, bachelors haven’t been as quick to embrace the concept, although the studio’s Chicago branch will host its first bachelor party next month.

Susan Walvius and Michelle Marciniak "liked the feeling of their athletic shorts so much they decided to make sheets out of them," reports Penelope Green in the New York Times (9/15/11). "I sleep hot, and I think most people do," says Susan. "But I don’t think people realize that if you sleep hot, your sleep is disrupted, and the next day you can’t perform well." Both Susan and Michelle are former women’s basketball coaches, and see a parallel between performance apparel and performance bedding, "because of the moisture wicking and the temperature management."

They’ve actually gone to market with the concept with a product called Sheex, which joins a burgeoning array of bedroom products aimed largely at women and promising a better night’s sleep. "There is a larger number of single females choosing to delay marriage," says Dr. Robert Oexman, director of the Sleep to Live Institute. "They are more affluent and more athletic … and research is showing them that their cognitive performance really decreases if they don’t get a good night’s sleep. They know all about this." That’s not to say that men aren’t interested in performance bedding, too, albeit for perhaps different reasons.

For example, the Mattress Development Company has come up with a mattress that looks "at sleep itself as an athletic event." Among other things, it has "a steel bar in the middle of the mattress," meaning less bounce for better whatever (hint: it is marketed under Hef’s brand). Other performance bedding products include Outlast sheets, which "balance the microclimate under the covers." (The National Sleep Foundation highlights a range of sleep-fitness products on its website.) In any case, sleep is waking up as a category: "In 2010, Americans spent more than $5.8 billion on their mattresses and box springs, up four percent from the year before."

In a throwback to old-fashioned beauty parlors, blow-dry bars don’t cut hair, they just "wash, dry and style it," reports Elizabeth Holmes in the Wall Street Journal (9/28/11). This involves a stylist with a "high-powered hair dryer, a large, round brush and strong arm muscles to tame hair into a smooth and lasting style." Typically, the service takes about 35 minutes, and costs the customer about a dollar a minute. "If I’m having a bad day, I go," says Jennifer Maggiore. "If I’m having a fat day, I go … If I’m traveling for work and want to look and feel polished, I go."

What this means is that Jennifer has gone to DryBar, a blow-drying chain, "15 times in the past five months." She’s part of a growing trend that "comes as the hair salon industry is struggling," with cash-strapped consumers taking a longer time between cuts and avoiding "higher-priced — and higher profit — services such as coloring and permanent straightening treatments." The blow-dry, which used to be just the finishing touch, is now gaining popularity in its own right as an "affordable luxury." DryBar, which opened just last year but already has 10 locations, is one of a number of chains that "have popped up in the last year."

Others include Blo, which launched in 2007 and now has 16 shops. These salons typically keep long hours and offer "girlish decor, with chick flicks on a big-screen television." Convenience is important, and so is efficiency, because profitability depends on it. "It’s like landing planes," says Tara De La Rosa, owner of Blowout, in Portland, Ore. "Who’s coming in the door, who’s almost done, constantly shuffling and adding." Stylists, meanwhile, have "to abandon their perfectionist tendencies" to keep pace. But things are blowing well for Blo, which plans to open another 12 salons in 2012. "Before we were just a cool business," says Paul Spindler, coo, "now we’re a category."

When it comes to bike repair, female mechanics have "acquired a certain cachet," reports Jed Lipinski in the New York Times (9/11/11). In fact, last year, New York magazine picked K.T. Higgins of the Bushwick Bike Shop as the best bike mechanic in the city. "I’m definitely not the best skill-wise," says K.T., who is currently on maternity leave. She admits there are other, "much better mechanics, guys with 30 years of experience." But what she brings is the ability "to make customers feel comfortable."

"There’s a real sensitivity involved in repairing bikes, and it’s nice to have girls for that reason," says Dave Perry of Bike Works. He’s hired five or six over his 12 years in business. "A lot of women customers would probably prefer to talk to a woman mechanic," he adds. Maybe the men, too. Natalie Feliciano of Recycle-a-Bicycle says she’s been approached by several other shops. "They think more people will come if there’s a young female mechanic at the shop," she says. "And they’re probably right."

Natalie’s vocation — and that of many other women — is largely thanks to Karen Overton, a cycling advocate who opened Recycle-a-Bicycle in 1994 to teach teens how repair bikes, and in 1997 launched "a weekly bike repair workshop for women called Ladies Night." Grads have gone on to work at some of the best shops in the city. "It must be tough being a chick in this business," says Art Stowers, a messenger who brings his bike to Katlyn Hershman of Bike Works. "But I come to Katlyn if there’s something I can’t fix myself. She just knows more than me."