Back in August, we sent out our 2016 market research survey to over 30,000 English speaking people around the world to enable us to better understand who our customers are and what they expect from Leon Paul. To any business customer feedback is invaluable, but this is especially true in the highly specific world of fencing and fencing equipment. We thought it would be good to share some of the data with you. Below are some of the results from the customer-centric questions from the survey which we hope will be interesting to all. Your Gender Your Gender Is it a surprise to many of us that the majority of fencers are male? We're not sure it is, but it is worth mentioning at this point that this data is only representative of the people who A) we contacted with the survey, and B) who responded. One thing to note is that we have noticed a trend that although the majority of fencers appear to be male, an even number of men and women buy equipment. There are lots of mothers buying on behalf of fencers. So a salute to those MOFs (Mums of Fencers). What weapon do you fence? Weapon This may be a bit of a surprise to some as it is generally perceived that the vast majority of fencers are Epeeists. Leon Paul seems to have a very even split between the two weapons, bearing in mind that some people fence more than one of the disciplines regularly. How long have you fenced for? How many years have you fenced for   This is a surprisingly even split. Obviously, we expected that there would be fencers from all timespans, but the ones that buy Leon Paul we might have thought that they would be the more experienced competitive fencers. Clearly, we were mistaken, it seems that everyone from beginners to vets are keen for Leon Paul products. How many hours do you fence a week? How many hours do you fence a week As far as this data goes, this just tells us that once you start fencing, you just can't stop, with the vast majority of fencers putting in as much time as they can. After all, why wouldn't you? It's a great sport. What age group(s) do you fence in? Which agegroup do you fence in We aren't sure whether this is a reflection of the older fencers being more keen to fill out our surveys than the younger ones, or just that the split in ages is different to what we expected. What do you think? Do you compete? Do you complete Spicing up the graphs a bit here. Not too much different to what is expected, most people at Regional Events, with decreasing numbers the higher up you go. How much do you compete? How much do you compete As expected, those of you who compete, really give it your all. Fair play to you all, without you fencing day in and day out, the sport simply couldn't exist. So thanks, and carry on fencing!