Following significant progress in research, Smart Sportswear is on the verge of market maturity. This development offers sporting goods manufacturers the opportunity to strengthen their brand positioning and reposition themselves in an increasingly competitive market.
New technology with added value for consumers
Modern textiles with integrated sensors, for example, are able to record and actively control posture data in real time. One example of this is automatic posture correction when skiing. Such applications offer consumers considerable benefits.
Our representative survey of consumers confirms this: 80 per cent could imagine buying smart sportswear. Young, active and tech-savvy consumers in particular show great interest in such products.
From a single product to a holistic sports ecosystem
Many companies are currently still focussing on individually offered products and services. Smart sportswear opens up the opportunity to create an integrated sports ecosystem instead, in which products, services and the sports experience are seamlessly interlinked in order to retain consumers in the long term. One example: by analysing exercise data, the individual nutrition and fitness plan can be automatically adjusted in real time.
Tom Lurtz
Partner, Performance & Strategy, Enterprise Performance
KPMG AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft
External competitors and data protection
In addition to established sporting goods manufacturers, technology companies are increasingly recognising the potential of smart sportswear. At the same time, there are challenges such as data protection concerns and a still limited awareness of the new technologies.
In our white paper "Smart Sportswear: New growth opportunities in the sportswear market", we therefore provide detailed recommendations on how companies can utilise the new opportunities and overcome challenges.
