Sports are gradually becoming a trend, sportswear is developing at a rapid pace, and high-tech is everywhere.

The global attention and enthusiasm of sports and fitness are rising, and people's pursuit of the functional, comfort, safety and design of sportswear is endless. In order to seize the wind, the clothing brand has launched a variety of new technologies, constantly breaking through the boundaries of traditional sports equipment.

Self-adjusting sports underwear

People who participate in a variety of sports often need to purchase a number of sports underwear for different sports strengths, because each activity will cause different degrees of vibration and impact on the body when landing. Reebok made a breakthrough in this area. In August 18, it launched an automatically adjustable PureMove sports underwear that tightens during high-intensity exercise and relaxes during low-intensity exercise or rest.

Reebok launches deformable sports underwear with gel injection â–²

Reebok uses a changeable texture gel to create underwear that supports different levels of exercise. This gel-like substance, called Sheer Thickening Fluid (STF), was developed by the University of Delaware and has been used in NASA space suits to protect astronauts from shrapnel.

At low speeds, the STF becomes a liquid and becomes solid at high speeds. Because PureMove uses Motion Sense technology, the fabric exhibits a liquid-like relaxed state when it is stationary or slightly moving, and becomes strong when it is moving fast.

The PureMove sports underwear itself is designed to be very simple and adaptable, using only seven pieces of fabric, resulting in fewer seams and less friction. At the same time, the front and back of the underwear are perforated to ensure the breathability. The front enamel can effectively fit the skin and is very comfortable to wear.

Compression suit to avoid neck sprain

Canadian startup AEXOS announced the launch of the HALO compression suit in August this year. This compression top is fitted with a collar made of smart material to help reduce the impact of impact in contact movements on the head and neck without affecting movement or mobility.

This HALO top is made from a blend of nylon and spandex to provide athletes with posture support. The core technology lies in the collar of the top, which is made of closed cell viscoelastic polymer foam.

HALO compression suit can avoid athletes' neck sprain â–²

During normal exercise, the material is in a soft, flexible state that supports the neck and does not restrict movement. However, in the event of an impact, the material becomes firmer, slowing the flexion and extension of the head and neck by 46%, thereby reducing the risk of concussion. The collar is lined with silicone rubber and the lining fits the skin.

This innovative technology is unique to HALO and is recognized by Safe 4 Sports, a prevention program that promotes sports safety. HALO is currently undergoing testing by the Canadian Department of Defense.

High-tech 3D printed upper

In April of this year, Nike launched a lightweight concept running shoe made with Flyprint3D printed fabric upper technology. Unlike Nike's previous solution to 3D printing technology for shoe midsole, Flyprint technology is used for shoe uppers.

Nike uses Flyprint 3D printing technology to make the upper â–²

The Flyprint upper is formed by solid-state deposition (SDM), a process in which TPU fibers are loosened from the coil and melted, and then layered and cured.

The use of Flyprint technology helps designers transform the data of athletes into geometric data for creating new fabric uppers. The brand first needs to capture and collect data from athletes. The data is calculated using an computational design tool to determine the ideal material composition. Finally, based on this information, the final fabric upper is created.

The 3D printed fabric provides better stretching tension due to the interconnection of warp and weft. This advantage of Flyprint fabrics comes from the fusion of materials. The 2D woven fabric itself, that is, the interlaced yarn (warp and weft) has a certain amount of internal friction, while in the 3D printed fabric, the woven thread blends with each other, giving it a higher degree of precision and performance potential. Compared to the materials previously used, Flyprint fabrics are 6% lighter (about 11 grams) and have better breathability.

The technology creates a unique fabric upper for different athletes or different functional needs, while reducing overall design time. With functional printing, Nike can design and develop faster with greater precision, and its prototyping is ten times faster than previous production methods.

Automatic lace-up Nike shoes

Recently, Nike also released an automatic lace-up sneaker called "HyperAdapt 1.0". This is also the world's first sneaker with automatic laces.

It is a long time to say that this automatic lace-up Nike shoe has a long history. In 1989, the technology movie "Back to the Future 2" was released, and the protagonist wore a pair of Nike shoes that can be automatically strapped. Yes, Nike made an advertisement for this shoe in a popular movie 27 years ago. Now, the company has finally moved the "black technology" in the movie to real life. According to reports, there is a sensor at the heel of the shoe, and when it is stepped on, the shoelace system can be touched and automatically tightened. There are two buttons on the side of the shoe to adjust the tightness, no need to worry about not following the foot.

Nike's integration of technology into sports equipment is not a temporary rise. Some time ago, Nike announced that it would use 3D technology to print a pair of boots for the Rio Olympic Games for American sprinter Allyson Felix. This is not the case. In October last year, Nike’s CEO also said that Nike is working hard to make everyone print Nike shoes in their own homes. "I envision Nike's future is still the intellectual property of 3D printing Nike shoes documents, consumers customize their own Nike shoes products, buy design files from Nike website, follow the instructions to create their own Nike in their home 3D printers shoe".

Looking forward to the future, the trend of the national sports will be further developed. Traditional sportswear brands are generally caught in a homogenized pattern, and the combination of intelligence and technology can match the functional and individual needs of the market.