september-2011

28 metropolitan
~ insider xxxxxxxxxx ~
Sport couture
As Stella McCartney and Armani step up for the British and Italian Olympic teams and Puma hires
Hussein Chalayan, the design and science of sportswear is making great strides. Clodagh Kinsella looks at the key
brands and the sophisticated technologies they employ in the run-up to London 2012
sportswear is suspiciously good these days. At the 2008
Beijing Games, British brand Speedo’s LZR Racer suit accounted
for 94% of all golds won in the pool. The term “technological
doping” was born – and governing body FINA banned it.
Like all the top brands, Speedo invests vast sums in textile
research: testing fabric in NASA’s wind tunnels, ultrasonically
welding seams to reduce drag, and using ANSYS’s “fl uid fl ow”
simulation soft ware in its Aqualab to body-scan athletes and
pinpoint areas requiring low-friction fabric.
The revised 2012 version of the LZR Racer, including
waist-to-knee-only suits or “jammers” for men, embodies the
holy trinity of modern sportswear: science, fashion (it was
designed by Comme des Garçons) and sponsorship. Besides
adorning Brits Rebecca Adlington and Keri-
Anne Payne, human dolphin Michael Phelps
will get £10,000 from his sponsors for every
world record set in the suit. He netted $1m for
the seven he broke in Beijing.
Market leader Nike has blended high-tech design with
space-age fashion. The new Flywire technology reduces
shoes to 100g, holding them to the feet with precisely placed
vectran stitches. And worn before races, the PreCool Vest
helps athletes last up to 21% longer on the fi eld: muscles
work better when they’re not spending energy just keeping
cool. The inner layer is fi lled with frozen water while the
outer layer is coated with aluminium, making it essentially a
thermos fl ask you wear.
Aerographics, an engineered mesh that can dispense with
half the yarn in a garment, helps to cool athletes, while
doubling as a graphic design adaptable to the wearer’s culture.
Watch out for the US version on basketballer Kobe Bryant.
Breathable textiles like this have been the
last decade’s key sportswear innovation. A
“body mapping” technique piloted by the
Hohenstein Institute in Bonnigheim measures
how the body interacts with clothing, helping