Female gun ownership and the rise of fashionable "carrywear"

The number of women who own a gun is rising -- an estimated one in five women in 2017 -- and the firearms industry is taking notice.The new generation of firearms for females are not just pink, but designed for a woman's frame to be lighter, slimmer and have less recoil for women with license to carry. It's not just firearms, but also apparel and accessories called "carrywear," including leggings, purses and holsters that women want customized to their needs.
When former NRATV host Amy Robbins started training for a marathon four years ago, she felt nervous, she said, after a passing car slowed and followed her jogging down the rural backroads outside a Texas suburb.
Nothing happened, and Robbins called the episode "anticlimactic," although she soon realized she wasn't the only woman concerned about her safety when running outside by herself. When she started searching for clothes to help carry her gun, she said she couldn't find anything as cute as her Lululemons. "There's no functional clothing to help women carry around self-defense tools," Robbins told CBS MoneyWatch.
So Robbins founded Alexo Athletica in 2017, billing it as an athletic "carrywear" company for women who want to conceal guns on their person. While the brand's "Signature Pant" retails for about the same as your Lululemon or Athleta leggings, it also has nine pockets designed for your gun, knife and pepper spray — along with your keys and smartphone.
It's a controversial line of business, but a profitable one, according to Robbins, who won't share specific numbers but said last year's inventory was sold out for five months and sales so far this year are nearly triple last year's rate. Alexo's chic messaging to "carry with confidence," blending "carrywear" with female empowerment, has helped the brand connect with some millennial women who take to Instagram to show off their purchases.
"Pink it and shrink it"
About one in five women owned a firearm in 2017, compared to more than three in five men, according to the Pew Research Center. Despite the gap, the number of women gun owners has been growing for decades, and the arms industry is paying attention to their purchasing.
Women spent an average $870 on guns in 2015, and an additional $405 on accessories, according to a study from the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which conducts the study every five years. However, industry experts say that the firearms industry took a long time to catch up with women's preferences.
"In the early days, they just took a 'pink it and shrink it' idea: We'll make the clothing, the stuff you see for men, and you'd put a little pink on it and give it to women," said Mark Oliva, manager of public affairs at the National Shooting Sports Foundation. "And my wife was like, 'I don't even like the pink.'"
New guns (and holsters) for the next generation
In response, the new generation of firearms is lighter, slimmer, with shorter parts and less recoil. Gun manufacturer Weatherby in 2

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