Sporting Goods Sales Up in 1st Half : Retailing: Roller-skates lead a boom in sales of exercise equipment, up 10% over last year.

Sporting goods sales took a jump this year because of booming sales of in-line roller-skates and an exercise craze that afflicts an estimated one in four American adults, a trade group said Tuesday.

The National Sporting Goods Assn., which is holding its annual sales convention here this week, reported that U.S. sales in the first half of 1992 soared more than 10%, after the industry recorded a flat sales year in 1991.

For the year, Americans are expected to spend $31.8 billion on sporting equipment in 1992, a 6% increase over last year’s $30.3 billion.

“I call it a fitness trend. A craze or a fad you expect to disappear. With a trend you expect continued growth,” said Tom Doyle, a spokesman for the trade group representing 25,000 retailers and wholesalers.

An estimated 42 million American adults exercise regularly, up from 32 million two years earlier, the group’s survey found.

Favored exercises include aerobics, bicycling, calisthenics, exercising with equipment, walking, running and swimming.

The estimated 25% of adults who work out at least twice a week are outnumbered by the 65 million who do not, although the number of couch potatoes fell from two years ago.

Among the younger 25- to 34-year-old age group, the number of non-participants remained the same.

The fitness study was based on responses from 14,000 people and had a margin of error of 1 percentage point, the NSGA said.

Annual sales of in-line skates, which include the popular rollerblades, are expected to double this year to $300 million, after tripling in 1991. The runaway demand is not expected to level off until 1994.

Sales of athletic footwear--the largest category among sporting goods--were flat last year at $6.3 billion, except for improved sales of cross-training and soccer shoes. Sales may climb to $6.5 billion in 1992.

More people apparently want to sweat it out on machines at home and in health clubs because demand for treadmills, cross-country ski machines and climbing machines increased significantly, the group said.

Doyle said sales of exercise machines are expected to grow 10% above last year’s $2.1 billion in sales.

Stationary bike sales slipped, however, for the second year in a row.

Golf club sales fell 15% in 1991, even though the game is increasingly popular. The decline was attributed to the recession and to the introduction of metal drivers a few years ago that have yet to be improved upon.

However, 1992 sales may brighten a bit for golf equipment sellers, with projected purchases of $1.2 billion, up from $1.1 billion in 1991.