Design and Product Development

Consumers’ Smart Fitness Apparel Purchase Intention: Do Social Acceptability Attributes, Environmental Concerns, and Health Beliefs Matter?

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Abstract

This study aimed to explore the effect of the social acceptability of Smart fitness apparel (SFA) on environmental concerns, health beliefs, the wearers’ attitudes, and intentions toward purchasing SFA. Understanding potential users’ perceptions and attitudes toward SFA is crucial for designers and marketers, as these clothing and footwear items are expected to be integral to the future of the smart fitness industry. After screening the data, the final sample of survey respondents was 480. Structural equation modeling was performed to test the hypothesized paths in the proposed research framework using SPSS 28 and SmartPLS software 4. The variance explained by the constructs—environmental concerns, health beliefs, attitudes, and purchase intentions were 35%, 36%, 28%, and 51%, respectively. The findings of this study indicated the importance of considering social acceptability, environmental concerns, and health beliefs to predict wearers’ attitudes and intentions toward SFA. 

Keywords: smart fitness apparel, social acceptability, health beliefs, environmental concerns, PLS-SEM

How to Cite:

Nam, C., Yu, H., Manchiraju, S. & Anderson, A., (2025) “Consumers’ Smart Fitness Apparel Purchase Intention: Do Social Acceptability Attributes, Environmental Concerns, and Health Beliefs Matter?”, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings 81(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/itaa.15877