Gold Standard: Where have all the high-tech fabrics gone?
In celebration of the Paris Olympics 2024 (26 July 2024 – 11 August 2024), this week our Stories will be filled with articles on textile and clothing in sports. Get ready for the week ahead with iconic running shoes, high-tech fabrics, lycra, leotards, and lace-ups.
Sport is ubiquitous: even if you do not actively participate its influence touches almost every aspect of our lives, from health and well-being to fashion, culture, business, entertainment design and architecture.
In an Olympic year we become hyper-aware of the achievements of sportsmen, the medals won and records broken, with newspapers, magazines and blogs telling us of sport’s wider relevance. The June 2012 issue of American Vogue features Annie Leibovitz’s photographs of the country’s Olympic hopefuls. They are photographed alongside fashion models as a somewhat superfluous reminder to the magazine’s readership of the link between sport and fashion. In the Leibovitz shoot the sportswear is visually traditional; there are no Speedo Fastskins that make the reader sit up and pay attention. Of the fashion sense, eight of the eleven images used show evening dresses of silk, lace and lamé. So where have all the high tech fabrics gone?
On 8th May 2009 The New York Times ran a headline questioning sporting achievement: “Is it the athlete or the equipment?” accompanied by photos of a cyclist, golfer and swimmer. The headline reappeared the following year in the swim governing body, Fédération Internationale de Natation’s (FINA) Swimwear Approval Commission (SAC) report, with the comment “Sport and technology: a non-desired issue beyond swimming”.
While sports equipment has long been subject to tight regulation (to the point where limits have been set on the number of dimples on a golf ball) sportswear has remained largely free of such constraints. However the 2000 Olympic Games changed all of that with one garment – Fastskin.
Fastskin was developed by Speedo and is based on the skin of the shark. To the naked eye a shark’s skin looks completely smooth, but when viewed under a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) it is shown to be comprised of a series of raised ridges. The section closest to the shark’s body is made of bone, while the outer tip of the scale is made of dentine overlaid with dental enamel. The cut and fit of the Fastskin garment allowed it to match the body’s contours, even aligning seams with muscles to provide a tendon-like tension.
Image above: Walter Dix wearing Nike Zoom Superfly R4 running shoe. Image: Michael Phelps wearing Speedo Faskskin.
Before the Sydney Olympics even began the suit was controversial, with rumours rife of swimmers sponsored by other brands demanding to be allowed to wear the new swimsuit. Thirteen of the fifteen World Records were broken at the games by swimmers wearing Fastskin, who also took home 83% of the medals that year. In 2004, Michael Phelps made swimming history in a Fastskin FSII suit taking home eight medals.
As controversy raged, in 2010 FINA banned the use of swimwear for men that extended above the navel or below the knee, and in the case of female swimmers swimwear that extended above the neck or past the shoulders or knee. FINA also insisted that all costumes be made of ‘textiles’ but have failed to specify that definition. Speedo have responded with the Fastskin III that adheres to these rules but incorporates the silicone rubber swim hat and streamlined flat goggles with hydroscopic lens as part of a whole system.
There is undoubtedly a psychological advantage in feeling that you are wearing the best clothing and accessories in competition. When Michael Johnson stepped on to the track for the 1996 Olympic finals wearing specially designed Nike gold shoes, he received an electric response from the Atlanta crowd.
This summer, Nike are going for gold once again with the launch of the Zoom Superfly R4 running spikes with gold spike plates. The emphasis is on weight, comfort and fit.
Conventional running shoes and spikes can have as many as forty-five different materials so the difference here is the reduction in that number made possible by the use of Flywire cables over the foot to maximise the support, comfort and reduce the overall weight. American Olympic hopeful Walter Dix will be one of the track athletes wearing Nike spikes and he will race against the World record holder Jamaican Usain Bolt wearing Puma. Bolt will be wearing the new EvoSPEED spike designed to provide lightness, flex and fit for the athlete. A key innovation in the shoe is the use of evoFOAM midsole cushioning for shock absorption, comfort and support.
Nike have also introduced Nike Pro Turbospeed running suits for track and field athletes. Ironically, the fabric technology is based on the dimples of a golf ball. The purpose of the dimple is aerodynamic allowing the golf ball, and now the athlete, to go faster. The restrictions in golf were not based on concerns about competitiveness, but that the ball would move so fast that television viewers would not be able to follow the game easily and viewing figures along with advertising revenue would drop. While Turbospeed wearing athletes will not be transformed into Flash from TheIncredibles, if they do succeed in breaking too many records in this year’s games, Nike may find themselves having to count the dimples on their suit – literally.
Some of the most advanced textiles in sports are hidden behind a discrete, unassuming aesthetic. Their performance heightening characterstics can be felt when worn or viewed under a microscope.
Sport is ubiquitous: even if you do not actively participate its influence touches almost every aspect of our lives, from health and well-being to fashion, culture, business, entertainment design and architecture.
In an Olympic year we become hyper-aware of the achievements of sportsmen, the medals won and records broken, with newspapers, magazines and blogs telling us of sport’s wider relevance. The June 2012 issue of American Vogue features Annie Leibovitz’s photographs of the country’s Olympic hopefuls. They are photographed alongside fashion models as a somewhat superfluous reminder to the magazine’s readership of the link between sport and fashion. In the Leibovitz shoot the sportswear is visually traditional; there are no Speedo Fastskins that make the reader sit up and pay attention. Of the fashion sense, eight of the eleven images used show evening dresses of silk, lace and lamé. So where have all the high tech fabrics gone?
On 8th May 2009 The New York Times ran a headline questioning sporting achievement: “Is it the athlete or the equipment?” accompanied by photos of a cyclist, golfer and swimmer. The headline reappeared the following year in the swim governing body, Fédération Internationale de Natation’s (FINA) Swimwear Approval Commission (SAC) report, with the comment “Sport and technology: a non-desired issue beyond swimming”.
While sports equipment has long been subject to tight regulation (to the point where limits have been set on the number of dimples on a golf ball) sportswear has remained largely free of such constraints. However the 2000 Olympic Games changed all of that with one garment – Fastskin.
Fastskin was developed by Speedo and is based on the skin of the shark. To the naked eye a shark’s skin looks completely smooth, but when viewed under a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) it is shown to be comprised of a series of raised ridges. The section closest to the shark’s body is made of bone, while the outer tip of the scale is made of dentine overlaid with dental enamel. The cut and fit of the Fastskin garment allowed it to match the body’s contours, even aligning seams with muscles to provide a tendon-like tension.
Before the Sydney Olympics even began the suit was controversial, with rumours rife of swimmers sponsored by other brands demanding to be allowed to wear the new swimsuit. Thirteen of the fifteen World Records were broken at the games by swimmers wearing Fastskin, who also took home 83% of the medals that year. In 2004, Michael Phelps made swimming history in a Fastskin FSII suit taking home eight medals.
As controversy raged, in 2010 FINA banned the use of swimwear for men that extended above the navel or below the knee, and in the case of female swimmers swimwear that extended above the neck or past the shoulders or knee. FINA also insisted that all costumes be made of ‘textiles’ but have failed to specify that definition. Speedo have responded with the Fastskin III that adheres to these rules but incorporates the silicone rubber swim hat and streamlined flat goggles with hydroscopic lens as part of a whole system.
There is undoubtedly a psychological advantage in feeling that you are wearing the best clothing and accessories in competition. When Michael Johnson stepped on to the track for the 1996 Olympic finals wearing specially designed Nike gold shoes, he received an electric response from the Atlanta crowd.
This summer, Nike are going for gold once again with the launch of the Zoom Superfly R4 running spikes with gold spike plates. The emphasis is on weight, comfort and fit.
Conventional running shoes and spikes can have as many as forty-five different materials so the difference here is the reduction in that number made possible by the use of Flywire cables over the foot to maximise the support, comfort and reduce the overall weight. American Olympic hopeful Walter Dix will be one of the track athletes wearing Nike spikes and he will race against the World record holder Jamaican Usain Bolt wearing Puma. Bolt will be wearing the new EvoSPEED spike designed to provide lightness, flex and fit for the athlete. A key innovation in the shoe is the use of evoFOAM midsole cushioning for shock absorption, comfort and support.
Nike have also introduced Nike Pro Turbospeed running suits for track and field athletes. Ironically, the fabric technology is based on the dimples of a golf ball. The purpose of the dimple is aerodynamic allowing the golf ball, and now the athlete, to go faster. The restrictions in golf were not based on concerns about competitiveness, but that the ball would move so fast that television viewers would not be able to follow the game easily and viewing figures along with advertising revenue would drop. While Turbospeed wearing athletes will not be transformed into Flash from TheIncredibles, if they do succeed in breaking too many records in this year’s games, Nike may find themselves having to count the dimples on their suit – literally.
Some of the most advanced textiles in sports are hidden behind a discrete, unassuming aesthetic. Their performance heightening characterstics can be felt when worn or viewed under a microscope.
AccuMED Innovative Technologies produce ‘Breathe-O-Prene’ which uses an open cell construction that performs a wicking function, moving moisture away from the body and allowing it to evaporate on the surface of the fabric. This leaves the body cool, dry and more comfortable. An embedded silver has been added to provide an active bacteria barrier.The Sun Dream Enterprise Co. Ltd are producing a germanium alloy yarn using a high-temperature sintering (a method used to create objects from powders) and nanogrinding to convert the alloy into an alloy crystal that can then be encapsulated within the fiber. The resulting fabric, Anion (minus ion) Air Vitamin is designed to create a greater sense of wellbeing, reducing tiredness, improving circulation and enhancing the body’s immune system.The Swiss company Schoeller produce a range of high performance fabrics for the high end of the market. Their current coating technologies include ‘Cchange’ climate control membrane, ‘ActiveSilver’ to control bacteria and ‘Nanosphere’ based on the lotus leaf‘s self cleaning characteristics. Although the fabrics look technologically advanced, this is achieved through the textile design. The advanced treatments are transparent and impossible to detect by touch so that they add nothing to the visual or tactile quality; yet the wearer experiences the performance and comfort that these technologies afford.
Olympic medals are won by fractions of seconds and the clothes and shoes the athletes wear, while not transforming Billy Bunter into Superman, contribute on a physical and psychological level. It is vitally important that these developments should not be subjected to unnecessary restrictions for the development of the industry. After all, who today would want to play with a wooden tennis racquet?
Text by Marie O’Mahony
Gold Standard: Where have all the high-tech fabrics gone? was originally published in Selvedge issue 47: Sporting.
Text by Marie O’Mahony
Gold Standard: Where have all the high-tech fabrics gone? was originally published in Selvedge issue 47: Sporting.