Mido 2005, sport takes to the field

Mido Sport will be returning after its successful launch in 2004. Mido Sport 2005, in the passageway between pavilions 14 and 15, will host a collection of sports eyewear, lenses, frames and helmets. Inside a special box setting, the products on display will be teamed with attention-grabbing scenes of water, mountain and ground sports. The central point is a hologram: a 3D reconstruction of eyewear from some of the companies at the exhibition, which become objects of pure light.

On top of this, Mido Sport is also an opportunity to present the results of an important research project carried out by Sitaricerca for Mido, on the use of eyewear in sports, either ad hoc or sunglasses, to find out how many people use this eyewear and why.

The survey was carried out among a sample of 12,690 Italians. According to the survey, almost 7 million Italians play at least one of the sports that were considered as being the most suited for eyewear (skiing, tennis, jogging, cycling, trekking, mountain biking, hunting, snowboarding, cross-country skiing, mountain climbing, sailing, windsurfing, beach volley, rowing, golf). More than 73% of the respondents use eyewear for sports activities, which shows that they prioritize eyecare; 50% use sports-specific eyewear, broken down into 22% using conventional shields and 18% eyewear with elastic retainers.

Usage varies based on geographical areas: people in north-west Italy are the most careful about using specific eyewear (42.2% use sports eyewear), those in southern Italy and the islands are the least careful (14.2%), but in these areas the percentage of people who play the 15 sports mentioned above falls to 20% versus 37% in north-west Italy. The age bracket also differs: sports eyewear is most popular among 36 to 50 year-olds, the users in this age bracket total 32.4 %. The highest percentage of eyewear use is in mountain sports: 68.8 % of the snowboarders and 59.9% of the skiers wear sports eyewear when on the ski fields.

What do 'sports people', want their eyewear to be? Protective (51.4%), light (44.5%) and functional (41%). Currently 3.6 million people use sports eyewear. An estimated 850,000 pairs of eyewear are bought each year, for an overall value of €59.5 million: a growing market that will grab the attention it deserves at Mido 2005.