Gymwear brands failing to appeal to growing and increasingly active older consumers
Polling from our Age Without Limits campaign reveals that consumers aged 50 and above feel overlooked and neglected by gymwear brands.
Our anti-ageism campaign argues that these brands are missing out on a growing and lucrative market by ignoring older consumers.
One in five people aged 45 and over (20%) says that not a single gymwear brand fairly represents their age group in their advertising, our campaign polling reveals.
Around half of consumers aged between 55 and 64 feel that being overlooked as potential customers is the norm among gymwear companies with 49% of people in this age range agreeing that few or no brands fairly represent their age group.
Consumers over the age of 45 think that gymwear brands do a poorer job at age representation in their promotion compared to technology, beauty, hospitality and fashion brands.
Our polling indicates that brands are missing out by failing to adequately target older customers.
More than one in four (26%) consumers aged between 55-64 say they would buy more from a brand if its advertising included fair representation of people of their age group.
And more than one in three (36%) consumers aged between 45-54 would feel more connected to a brand if its advertising included a fair representation of their age group.
Gymwear brands are failing to tap into a growing market of an increasingly active 50+ age group with significant collective spending power.
A record 10.5 million adults aged 55+ are active for at least 150 minutes each week, according to the most recent Active Lives Adult Survey Report from Sport England.
And 50+ consumers account for more than half of the consumer spending in the UK.
Age Without Limits campaign supporter Anne, is a 77-year-old athlete from Bristol. She says:
The vast, vast majority of models selling sportswear are younger. This just perpetuates the idea that older people shouldn’t be exercising or doing sports. It adds to our invisibility. I don’t expect to see larger numbers of older models, but we’re so invisible it feels like there are none.
Age Without Limits campaign supporter Annie, 75 from Yorkshire, says:
My age group is pretty much absent from most big brand leisure and sport advertising, it is as though we don’t exist. Last year a huge outdoor, activity clothing brand opened up near to me and a promotional brochure was delivered to my door. Not one page showed anyone in the 50-plus age bracket, and yet everyone I know is active and involved in some kind of sport-related leisure activity. I raised this with the company but needless to say, I heard nothing back.
Harriet Bailiss, Co-head of the Age Without Limits campaign, said:
We know that people in their fifties and beyond are more active than ever as an age group. We know that as an age group they will become an increasingly large proportion of the population over the coming years. We know that collectively, the 50+ age group has huge spending power. And brands must know this too. So it is absurd that the majority still acts as if this huge collection of consumers do not exist and are not worthy of their efforts to reach them. Older people are almost entirely absent from adverts.
“We know from our campaign supporters that the exclusion and misrepresentation of older people from advertising is something they find hugely frustrating. They are tired of not seeing themselves reflected back in the adverts they see, they are tired of hearing nothing back from brands when they raise the issue. Our campaigners feel the lack of representation is getting even worse and that they are not even seeing green shoots of progress on this issue.
“And while it is understandably frustrating for consumers who are feeling ignored and unvalued, it is also a massive oversight from brands who could reap significant financial rewards if they targeted 50+ consumers in the same way as they target other age groups.”
Katherine Crawshaw, Co-head of the Age Without Limits campaign, said:
What we need to see is representation of older people in adverts that is more reflective that these age groups make up a significant proportion of the population. We want older adults to be featured in adverts for a range of products from brands across sectors, not just for supposedly ‘age-related’ products such as cruises or mobility aids as is the case currently. We want to see adverts that celebrate ageing; we don’t want to see the odd token older person depicted in a way that reinforces ageist stereotypes or always makes them the butt of the joke.
“One of the key reasons why so many advertising companies and brands are getting this so wrong currently is because their own workforces don’t reflect the fact that we are all living and working for longer. Fewer than one in ten ad agency employees are over the age of 51. More effective representation of the 50+ demographic in adverts will come from more effective representation of the 50+ demographic in advertising roles. We need to see more employers within the industry recognising the importance and value of older workers, committing to improving work for people in their 50s and 60s and taking the necessary action to help them flourish in a multigenerational workforce.”
Opinium conducted a nationally representative survey of 4,000 UK adults between 16th - 20th January 2026 via online interviews.
Opinium is a Market Research Society company partner and member of the British Polling Council and abides by both organisations' rules.