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@article{200310,
        author = {Abhishek Bajaj and Dr. Swati Padoshi},
        title = {Conditional Ethics in Sportswear: A Quantitative Analysis of Sustainability, Comfort, and Value Trade-offs in the Indian Market},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2026},
        volume = {12},
        number = {12},
        pages = {1064-1068},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=200310},
        abstract = {The Indian sportswear market is experiencing rapid expansion, yet there remains a critical knowledge gap regarding the complex trade-offs urban consumers make between intrinsic garment attributes and extrinsic ethical drivers. Multi-faceted components of consumer buying behavior have been quantitatively investigated in this study with specific evaluation on how the product sustainability interacts with baseline expectations of comfort and value.
A descriptive quantitative research design was employed, utilizing a structured Likert-scale questionnaire. Following rigorous data cleaning, a sample of 691 respondents from five major Indian metropolitan areas was analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and One-way ANOVA. The results reveal that physical comfort is a non-negotiable prerequisite for purchase (Mean = 4.63) rather than a unique differentiator. Conversely, sustainability demonstrated a strong positive correlation with purchase behavior with r = 0.708, accounting for 50.1% of the behavioral variance. Significant demographic variances were observed, with older consumers (45-55 years) placing a higher premium on sustainability compared to younger demographics. The study introduces the concept of "conditional ethics" within the Indian sportswear market, proving that while consumers exhibit a strong preference for sustainable sportswear, this preference is strictly conditional upon the garment first meeting baseline ergonomic and pricing thresholds.},
        keywords = {Sportswear, Consumer Behavior, Sustainability, Comfort, Conditional Ethics, Indian Retail Market.},
        month = {May},
        }