TechnoSport and AIC IIT Delhi Partner to Advance Made-in-India Performance Sportswear
TechnoSport, India’s largest activewear brand, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Atal Incubation Centre (AIC) IIT Delhi, under the Atal Innovation Mission supported by NITI Aayog, to establish the TechnoSport Center for Research and Entrepreneurship in Sports Textile (T-CREST) at IIT Delhi’s Sonipat campus.
The collaboration aims to strengthen India’s scientific and engineering capabilities in performance sportswear by developing products around the specific requirements of Indian athletes and sporting environments. The initiative will bring together expertise in textile science, garment engineering, product development, manufacturing and sports science.
As part of the partnership, TechnoSport will invest ₹4.5 crore over three years towards sports-textile research, prototyping and capability development. The collaboration is expected to create a stronger link between academic research and the development of high-performance sportswear, combining TechnoSport’s experience in textiles and manufacturing with IIT Delhi’s scientific and engineering capabilities.
The MoU exchange was attended by Prof. Vivek V. Buwa, Deputy Director (Strategic & Planning), IIT Delhi; Dr. Nikhil Agarwal, MD FITT, IIT Delhi; Alok Pandey, CEO, AIC IIT Delhi; Prof. Bipin Kumar, Associate Professor, Department of Textile and Fibre Engineering, IIT Delhi; and Puspen Maity, CEO, Technosport. Their participation reflects the initiative’s focus on bringing together sports, science, manufacturing and technical textiles.
Research Focused on Athlete Performance
At elite levels of sport, sportswear can play a role in how athletes manage heat, moisture, movement and comfort. T-CREST will examine these interactions by considering the athlete, sport, environment and garment as interconnected factors.
The research will involve athletes, coaches, textile scientists and sports-science specialists, with the objective of translating scientific findings into commercially viable sportswear solutions. The initiative will explore how material science and garment engineering can contribute to athletic performance, comfort and recovery.
T-CREST will operate from the Atal Incubation Centre at IIT Delhi’s Sonipat campus, providing access to an innovation-focused deep-tech ecosystem established under the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), an initiative of NITI Aayog, Government of India.
Beyond developing individual products, the initiative aims to contribute to a broader indigenous ecosystem for sports-textile technologies. It will support new ideas, scientific expertise, specialist talent, entrepreneurship and employment opportunities across India’s sports-textile sector.
The initiative will bring together researchers, students, entrepreneurs, athletes and industry professionals to help translate scientific research into scalable sports-technology ventures. Its location also places it close to Haryana’s established sporting ecosystem, where many athletes representing India undergo training.
A Google-Deloitte Think Sports: Unlocking India’s $130B Sports Potential report projects that India’s sports market could reach $130 billion by 2030, with employment across the sector increasing from 4.7 million to 10.5 million, creating nearly 58 lakh additional jobs.
Industry-Academia Collaboration
Speaking on the MoU, Sunil Jhunjhunwala, Co-Founder and Managing Director, TechnoSport, said, “India has the scientific talent, manufacturing depth and sporting ambition to create world-class performance sportswear here. Through our partnership with IIT Delhi, T-CREST gives us the opportunity to combine rigorous scientific research with TechnoSport’s experience in textiles, product development and manufacturing. Our ₹4.5 crore commitment is about building the science, capabilities and talent required to develop high-performance products in India that can stand alongside the best globally.”
Puspen Maity, CEO, Technosport, said, “India’s opportunity is not just to develop new textile technologies, but to turn them into commercially viable products that can reach millions of consumers. T-CREST brings together scientific know-how, product development and execution with our understanding of manufacturing, markets and consumers, helping take an innovation from the lab to a product that can be successfully built, launched and adopted at scale.”
Commenting on the collaboration, Alok Pandey, CEO, AIC IIT Delhi, said, “T-CREST is an opportunity to bring researchers, innovators, industry, coaches and athletes together to build technology-led solutions for the future of sports in India. By connecting IIT Delhi’s research capabilities with Technosport’s product development and manufacturing expertise, we aim to create a stronger pathway from research and innovation to real-world sporting applications. I also thank Prof. Bipin Kumar from IIT Delhi’s Department of Textile and Fibre Engineering for his instrumental role in shaping this partnership and his continued support in taking this initiative forward.”
The collaboration will also provide IIT Delhi faculty, students, researchers and innovators with opportunities to work alongside TechnoSport’s R&D and product teams. The engagement is expected to strengthen industry-academia collaboration while supporting the development of specialised talent for the future of performance textiles and sportswear in India.
