Indoor cycling wear : a needs assessment

Graduation date: 2011As designer it is important to understand the needs and wants of the\ud consumer. In sportswear design it is particularly important to know what\ud consumers think they want and what are the physical movements needs which\ud the apparel must meet. This study was developed to provide the researcher with\ud a foundation in designing sportswear for particular sports. Indoor cycling was\ud selected because of the popularity of the activity and the lack of specific apparel.\ud Though indoor cycling is viewed as substitute for road cycling, the conditions\ud and participants are not the same. This study uses a design process which asks\ud the consumer about their aesthetic needs of the clothing as well as the functional\ud needs.\ud The purpose of this study is to identify needs related to indoor cycling\ud wear design and to examine commitment differences in clothing attributes\ud selection. Data was gathered as to the preferences of indoor cyclists for garment\ud characteristics of ideal indoor cycling wear. A questionnaire was developed as\ud the instrument that would be used to gather the indoor cyclists' preferences. The\ud goal is to establish design criteria of indoor cycling wear that meets the needs of\ud highly committed and casual indoor cyclists. Each questionnaire was made up of\ud three major parts: (1)Demographics (2) Personal value statements and(3) Indoor\ud cycling wear design preferences. The 137 questionnaires were analyzed to test\ud the hypotheses and investigate the clothing needs of indoor cyclists who were\ud involved with indoor cycling class. The respondents for this study were a sample\ud of 135 (85 females and 50 males) participants. Demographic data analysis\ud showed that most of the respondents were between 46 to 60 years. The majority\ud of the participants reported the length of participation in indoor cycling class\ud was above 3 years and amount of time spent for indoor cycling class was 2 to 3\ud times a week. Over 75% of the respondents were not only attending indoor\ud cycling class but also enjoyed in outdoor cycling for exercise.\ud In this study, frequencies were used to identify the design criteria for\ud males and females indoor cycling design. The indoor cycling clothing design\ud criteria were combined and composite drawings of indoor cycling wear\ud preferences were developed. It was not an objective of this research to develop\ud prototypes from the design criteria. However, the reported design criteria could\ud be used as guidelines for the development of future indoor cycling clothing.\ud Though it is not an original objective of the study, this research also indicates\ud that an older consumer may have different athletic clothing needs and should be\ud a topic for future research