Female gun ownership and the rise of fashionable "carrywear"

By Sarah Min
CBS Money Watch
April 26th. 2019
  • 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.