INTRODUCTION
Over the past 15 years there has been a huge increase in participation in active sports all over the world. Healthier lifestyles are leading to greater sports participation; more sports have been invented and many old sports have been popular. The highly competitive world of sports has given rise to more professional sports persons who are conscious about their sportswear & also demand more specific functions to be performed by sportswear.
Design of active sportswear is still a subject of research for many companies. As a result of this new fibre, fabrics & finishes are developed to satisfy the stringent requirements imposed by contempory sports trends.
sports
In the first half of 20th century sportswear was not scientifically designed due to non-availability of specialty fibres. But today, designing of sportswear is receiving scientific inputs. May be the knowledge, expertise & experience we gathered in last century is used now to design sportswear appropriate for specific sports.  Increase in the participation in sports activities is accompanied by the development of appropriate performance sportswear tailored to meet the different requirements of different sports. Tremendous progress had been made in the development of specialty fibres, yarns, fabrics & finishes for active sportswear.

MARKET FOR SPORTSWEAR:
According to the study conducted by David Rigby Associates, the consumption of sportswear was 237 Ktonnes in 1995 & is estimated to increase up to 390 Ktonnes by 2005. It is expected that it will grow at fascinating rate & will reach the value US $ 2.35 billion by 2005 (2). Let’s look at the forces which are responsible for the astonishing growth of sportswear market.
*     Increase in the sports participation in active sports in last decade or so.
*     Constant pursuit victories & record braking performance, outstanding marksmanship & high level of professionalism in sports had imposed stringent demands on sports textiles.
*     In fiercely competitive world of sports, ‘performance ’has become key & issues like Moisture management, temperature regulation, stretch, lightness, wind and water resistance and frictional reduction have became more important.
*     Developments in technology such as emergence of new polymers, fibres, yarns, method of fabric production & innovative finishes had helped in meeting the specific requirements of sportswear.
*     Apart from sportswear, textiles also found applications in the areas like reinforcement of sport goods, performance shoes, climbing ropes & artificial turfs related to sports.

NEW OPPORTUNITIES:
According to David Rigby Associates, new consumers groups are emerging, they are
*      Children, and now the grandchildren of baby - boom generation is continuing the lifestyle pioneered by them. (CATCH THEM YOUNG)
*      Over 55-Agegroup (The" Third Agers") is growing rapidly in many developed countries. They want to take part in fitness related activities and can afford to buy the appropriate clothing and time.
*      Women are moving into aerobics to becoming much involved in competitive
                        Sports such as hiking.