Consumer’s contradictory needs: Functionality and sustainability on purchase intentions for sportswear

Juyoung Lee, Jihyeong Son and Soyoun Lim

Journal of Global Fashion Marketing, 2025, vol. 16, issue 2, 173-195

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to understand how functionality and sustainability in sportswear influence the purchase intention of sustainable sportswear. This study addresses a research gap in the contemporary sportswear market, where consumers form purchase intentions based on both functionality and sustainability. A total of 400 participants participated in the study. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was employed to assess the psychometric properties of the measurement model, and structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the proposed hypotheses. The study found that functionality – the active and comfort functions – and sustainability positively correlate with consumer attitudes toward sustainable sportswear. This study also proved that consumer attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control have a positive relationship with the purchase intention of sustainable sportswear. The study provided practical implications for the sportswear industry, where they can understand consumers’ contradictory sustainability and functionality needs. Marketers can learn from this result to promote their sustainable sportswear to consumers by emphasizing the active and comfort aspects of functionality in their products. The research extended the understanding of how attitudes are formed about the purchase of sustainable products, using the TPB to explain consumer behaviors in a new context of sustainable sportswear purchase.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/20932685.2024.2434861

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