How Technology and Sustainability Shape Modern Sports Gear

In an exclusive interview with Thiruamuthan, Assistant Editor of Industry Outlook, Atul Bajaj, Co-Founder & COO of Agilitas, discusses how technology, sustainability, and personalization are transforming India’s sports sector. He highlights innovations in eco-friendly materials, smart equipment, and wearable tech that enhance performance, consumer experience, and supply chain reliability.

Atul Bajaj is a seasoned business leader with over 20 years of experience. He specializes in sports product strategy, merchandising, supply chain, sales, and operations, with proven expertise in building high-performing teams and driving innovation, market growth, and sustainable business practices.

The sports goods sector is evolving rapidly. How are technology and sustainability reshaping equipment design or production and consumer experience?  

The sports industry is steadily making headway not only in India but at the global front. With more than 50 percent of India’s population under 25 years old, sports have gained more significance in India, especially after COVID-19. There is growing awareness of fitness and sports across all age groups, backed with India’s ever-evolving economy creating higher consumption levels. Previously, savings were a top priority among consumers. However, individuals are now willing to pay for activities that have a beneficial influence on their physical and mental health, and sports fit perfectly into this trend. 

Additionally, consumer preferences are profoundly influencing the design of sports today. Sportswear and sports equipment are no longer mere functional parameters; they are greatly influenced by fashion, turning sports into an aesthetic statement as well. This convergence of design, fashion, and functionality is evident across apparel, footwear, and sports goods.

This is further supported by technological advancements, which are supporting it as a strategic driver in terms of performance. In a variety of sports such as endurance, sprint, and marathon activities, modern technology, materials advancements, and improvements in the design of the equipment are allowing athlete performance to increase significantly and making it possible to reach new extremes. These latest advancements are also propelling the overall growth of the sports sector.  

Beyond performance, environmental responsibility is now becoming a key priority. To ensure long-term viability, brands are increasingly mindful of the adverse impacts that materials and production processes have on the environment.

Overall, India's sports sector displays huge potential. Rapid innovation, design development, and environmentally friendly methods, together with increasing customer demand, positioned the sector for sustained growth and offering more space for performance, lifestyle, and technology-driven solutions to flourish.

Eco-friendly gears are no longer optional. What innovative changes are the industry adapting in materials and manufacturing to meet this demand?

Increasingly on the manufacturing side, the materials being used are a lot more eco-friendly currently. Additionally, efforts are being made in electricity use, with solar power, and most of the water in production is being recycled. Recycled materials are being used in manufacturing, patterns, and footwear. On the whole, across the board, work is happening on manufacturing inputs, electricity, water recycling, and chemicals. Many new chemicals are not damaging to the environment or workers. Recycled materials are being used without impacting functionality. The key is ensuring eco-friendly materials and processes do not affect the final product—and that’s where a lot of innovation has come in. Innovation from a functional or aesthetic sense is no different; sometimes there is even an improvement, and sustainable practices are widely used in the industry now.

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Smart and connected equipment is redefining the training process. Given this, how can AI, sensors, and wearable tech transform performance across sports?

Wearable tech has massive potential in the near future. So far, most wearable tech has been on watches, fingers, wrists, or arms—outside of actual fitness gear. It has a significant effect on performance because athletes and fitness enthusiasts are able to monitor the way their bodies are reacting, not merely when exercising but also during rest and recuperation.

Connected fitness equipment solves a huge need, allowing people and coaches to track heart rates, recovery, and workout timing, helping to plan actions that positively impact performance—even for non-professional fitness users. For beginners, the equipment can guide them if they are overstretching or need to slow down. Increasingly, research is focusing on integrating fitness equipment into apparel and footwear so nothing extra needs to be worn.

Significant work is happening in this area, and in the near future, we’ll see many developments of this sort.

The global supply chains are really under pressure from rising costs and disruptions. What adaptive strategies can businesses adopt to maintain quality and reliability?

Quality and reliability are today considered hygiene factors. When a product is manufactured, the expectation is that it meets these standards and is delivered on time.

But in today's globalized environment, supply chain disruptions appear to affect reliability besides quality. The final item mostly arrives in a third country after materials are transported between nations, and manufacturing may take place in different locations. The supply chain is largely impacted when disruptions arise, perhaps due to tariffs or other worldwide issues.

Several measures can help to mitigate this. One approach is ensuring maximum availability of materials and Tier-2 vendors within the country. For example, if manufacturing occurs in India but relies heavily on imported raw materials, challenges may arise. Developing a fully integrated domestic supply chain will boost resilience.

Another strategy involves a long-term national plan to reduce overreliance on central or global sourcing, instead focusing on regional sourcing to minimize geopolitical risks and stay closer to the market. To lessen the effects in the near future, businesses must continue to be flexible, foresee potential challenges, and act fast. For short-term disruptions, suppliers and buyers can additionally retain buffer stocks, increase commonality, and decrease material variation.

To reduce the impact of supply chain disruptions, a variety of approaches at various levels are necessary; there is no single panacea.

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With personalization now becoming a standard expectation rather than a luxury, how is the sector balancing the demand for customized solutions with the need for efficient mass production?

There is a move towards customization now; everybody wants products that express their individuality, and that's where personalization plays a significant role. Personalization can sometimes reduce efficiencies, but our approach is to maintain the basic structure of the product while allowing for considerable individual customization.

For example, if you make a shoe, you can give the person a choice—painting on the shoe, embroidery, a t-shirt design, or a specific graphic. This way, the basic production efficiency is not hampered. It is possible to do mass production at the basic level and then offer customization as an add-on service. In this way, customization can be used as a value-added feature.

It maintains the efficiency of the core production process and supports sustainability.  The more inefficient the production process, the less sustainable it gets. As a result, we maintain sustainable production and enable value-added personalization, which provides individuals with additional opportunities to express themselves. The same is happening in apparel as well, where many things can be customized without affecting efficiency.

For truly bespoke products, production processes and lines are established to handle small, specialized runs. High-production runs and small, niche customizations are separated to maintain efficiency. You avoid mixing small customizations on large production lines or vice versa.

Key Advice for Emerging Leaders from Atul Bajaj:

• Be Resourceful: Being resourceful is extremely important as it helps you make the best of the limited resources or opportunities you have. 
• Be Perseverant: Whenever you do something, there will be setbacks and times when it feels like it’s not working out. Keep trying again and again, as perseverance ultimately leads to success. 
• Dig into your passion: Finding the passion within and going deep with it.