Historically, natural fibres like wool, cotton and silk have been used in the manufacture of clothing. All of these fabrics have served us well in the past but they are now being improved upon particularly with regards to sports clothes.
We are now better able to manage our personal environments (keep cool, warm, dry) with modern fabrics.
The sportswear base layer is where the most interesting technological developments are occurring at the moment. Below are some of the more interesting new sportswear technologies on the market:
1. Nike Sphere React – manages your personal environment keeping you cool if you are getting hot, and warm if you are too cold. It also keeps you dry.
2. Skins – compression garments which are designed to improve performance in just about any athletic sport. Skins fit very snugly round the body and with their gradient compression technology they compress the muscles in key areas and reduce the build up of lactic acid, reducing fatigue, improving performance, keeping you cool, dry and reducing recovery time. All these impressive claims are backed up with independent scientific research.
3. Nike Pro – Nike's own sports gear compression range
4. Odour free technology there are also fabrics coming on the market that do not take in odour they therefore do not allow bacteria to breed and do not retain bad smells. This technology has some way to go before it becomes the norm but certainly a future where all your sports clothes smell freshly washed even after a hard game is not that far away.
In conclusion, sports clothing technology has moved on significantly in the last few years. Fabrics now exist that are proven to keep us warm, dry, cool, improve our performance, help us recover quicker and even smell better. Progress indeed – make the most of it!
