NASCAR shirt Click photo for larger image.
Pink Pirates baseball hat Click photo for larger image.
Pink NHL jersey Click photo for larger image.

The color we associate with infant girls' nurseries has become a star, baby, a glittering, center-stage player that has stepped far beyond its bit part as a ruffle or flourish.

Pink is spreading amid the black and gold this spring at PNC Park, as we've seen recently at Mellon Arena and Heinz Field, as more and more female fans grab up sports regalia marketed just for them.

Whether it's a candy pink Razr cell phone or a pink-and-white fitted NASCAR shirt, women and teenage girls are buying boat loads of sportswear, jewelry, sneakers, furniture, kitchen appliances, electronics and even furs in this shade. It's even spread to wine, where Australia's Yellowglen winery is marketing to women its brand Pink in standard wine bottles or purse-sized miniatures called Pink Piccolos.

"We're saying pink is the new black," said Mike Gatti, executive vice president of the Retail Advertising & Marketing Association in Washington, D.C.

At the Mellon Arena, one of this season's most popular items has been a pink-and-white Penguins T-shirt with Sidney Crosby's name and number on the back and the team's logo on the front. It's sold at the relatively new Mellon Arena store called Pretty in Pink that also stocks polo shirts, hats and socks in that color.

Sportswear designed specifically for female fans began arriving in 2003, the year a black-and-white Penguins hockey jersey was specifically made for the female silhouette, said Karen Ford, merchandise manager for ARAMARK.

"Prior to that time, it was all unisex," she said.

"It's unbelievable how long it took people to realize that women's shapes weren't unisex shapes or men's shapes,'' said Ms. Ford, who formerly worked at Horne's department store.

"When I came into this marketplace, I'd look at these unisex T-shirts and I'd think to myself, 'Well, what's a lady supposed to wear?'''

The marketing of team sportswear to women, Ms. Ford estimated, has generated an additional 15 percent to 20 percent more revenue.

At PNC Park, "the day of women wearing the men's extra large is kind of going by the wayside," said Stephen Musciano, general manager for ARAMARK at PNC Park, which offers ladies' hats, T-shirts, golf shirts, polo shirts and jackets not just in pink, but in other colors, such as teal.

Women's reaction to pink has not always been so rosy.

Fifty years ago, in fact, the color bombed as a marketing tool when Dodge tried to sell women its pink LaFemme car, complete with matching rosebud floral interior and rose leather handbag.

But now, "Pink has become as ubiquitous as black,'' said Constance White, style director for eBay in New York City. "Who would have thought that?"

Pink's recent rise in popularity, Ms. White said, began in the late 1990s when Tom Ford used it in fashions he designed for Gucci.

"Tom used it not only in the same way one would use black, in blouses and pants -- he also used it in embellishments, say on jeans. He used it in menswear," she recalled.

The second-biggest influence came from urban rappers of the hip-hop culture. "You could never wear pink. That just wasn't cool. When hip-hop embraced pink, that gave it the imprimatur of cool," Ms. White said, adding that "I know that a couple of the people in the rap world have had their cars customized in pink."

The color spread to jewelry, and the competitive worlds of racing and athletics took notice, too.

Susan Rothman, vice president of consumer products for the National Football League, said the organization's revenues from selling women's merchandise tripled between 2003 to 2004 and doubled between 2004 and last year.

"By far, our most important color has been pastel pink," Rothman said. "Our research has told us that women tend to prefer smaller, more discreet logos. They want something that is stylish and comfortable."

NASCAR also is seeing rapid sales since it introduced products for women.

"Women are the fastest-growing part of our fan base," said Scott Warfield, manager of public relations for the Charlotte, N.C., division of NASCAR, adding that sales of NASCAR sportswear to them has grown fivefold in the past five years.

"Forty percent of the NASCAR fans are women. They want to have outfits that not only fit but are also a little bit fashionable," Mr. Warfield said, adding that by August, female NASCAR fans will be able to buy pumps with tiny spinners for $99 a pair. The shoes are from a company called Genius Fashion, which also will sell NASCAR-themed Western-style boots.

At the more affordable end of the scale are racing shirts, skirts and hoodies -- many in pink -- available at trackcouture.com. Co-founders Lisa Maria Heros and Diane Kathleen Smith of Memphis, Tenn., designed the clothes after they were given track outfits that didn't suit their fashion sense. They started their online business about two months ago.

Kenny Gamble, senior director of merchandising for Reebok, oversees its product lines for the National Football League.

When national teams' sports jerseys became a hot commodity, young men began trying to outdo one another by wearing unique or unusual ones, Mr. Gamble said, "A lot of these guys' girlfriends ... bought oversized jerseys and customized them," often hiring seamstresses to turn the jersey into a dress.

About four years ago, the National Football League compiled research and "identified women as major consumers of their brands," Mr. Gamble said. The NFL gave Reebok an exclusive license to make team jerseys and head gear.

"Reebok decided to design our products with women in mind as it related to fit, color and how the product functions. We built our business around those three things."

Reebok receives regular feedback from its customers, including Champs, Dick's Sporting Goods, Foot Locker, Ladies Foot Locker, Kohl's and J.C. Penney.

A few years ago, the blue worn by the University of North Carolina's Tarheels became so popular among the college set, Mr. Gamble said, that, "Buyers in these sporting goods chains added it to their core color palette."

In some stores, a variation of Carolina blue is called crocus in clothing made for women.

"Pink is still the key, the big driver in the marketplace. In licensed sports, it's still about the team color, but the pink has been supplementary," Mr. Gamble said.

Ms. White, the eBay style director, believes that pink may be peaking. But it's opened the door to other pastels.

"Lavender is becoming popular," she said, especially in blouses for women, along with pastels such as baby blue and mint green