Tharushi Wickramarathne, Blair Kuys, Wei Liu, Abdullah Al Mahmud
Findings suggest that smart sportswear for low-resource tropical cycling contexts should prioritise actionable, localised, and cost-sensitive cooling interventions rather than monitoring-only functions. The study contributes concept-level design requirements for culturally responsive wearable digital health sportswear. Because the findings are based on co-design outputs and participant perceptions, the proposed health benefits remain conceptual and require prototype development, physiological validation, usability testing, and field evaluation under cycling conditions.
BACKGROUND: Heat illness poses a serious health risk for endurance athletes in tropical climates, yet smart sportswear solutions integrating wearable digital health functions remain underexplored in low-resource settings.
OBJECTIVE: The objective of this research was to co-design concepts for wearable technology-enabled cycling sportswear that integrate cooling, physiological monitoring, culturally responsive usability, and cost-sensitive implementation to inform heat illness prevention strategies and support future prototype development.
METHODS: We conducted five co-design workshops with 20 semi-professional cyclists in Sri Lanka, using the Functional-Expressive-Aesthetic (FEA) framework to elicit user needs. Participants generated 19 design concepts and prioritized features through group discussion, sticky-note voting and qualitative ranking based on perceived health impact, usability, and cost feasibility.
RESULTS: Cooling comfort emerged as the top priority, with strong preference for hybrid designs combining natural wind cooling and smart user-controllable cooling. Key cooling zones included neck/upper back and underarm/chest. Participants valued physiological monitoring when it supported actionable interventions, such as future sensor-triggered cooling and hydration prompts, rather than passive monitoring dashboards. Additional priorities included localized UI in Sinhala, simplified data visualization, and safety features such as reflective elements. Two T-shirt concepts were finalized: smart cooling with user-controlled settings and lightweight cooling packs integrated with perforated panels.
CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that smart sportswear for low-resource tropical cycling contexts should prioritise actionable, localised, and cost-sensitive cooling interventions rather than monitoring-only functions. The study contributes concept-level design requirements for culturally responsive wearable digital health sportswear. Because the findings are based on co-design outputs and participant perceptions, the proposed health benefits remain conceptual and require prototype development, physiological validation, usability testing, and field evaluation under cycling conditions.