adidas Techfit Control Bra x RHEON™
Role: Design Lead
Client: Adidas
Completed: April 2024
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A new era of hi-tech sports bra.
Created to empower women to experience sport without restraint, made for runners everywhere.
The RHEON x Adidas Techfit Control Bra was made possible by combining years of breast kinematics research with athlete insights & the latest innovations in materials and design from RHEON LABS.
// Behind the Design
Building on the performance benefits seen in both the Techfit Control and Adizero Control collections, I led the design of the Tehcfit Control Bra collection from initial concept through to final prototypes.
I developed early computational design concepts that utilised breast displacement data, thermal sensitivity maps and sweat secretion zones to create bespoke RHEON™
designs that provided targeted support during activity, whilst maximising comfort when at rest. After several iterations of athlete testing, user feedback and fit changes, a full size run was rolled out to Adidas’ team of atheletes ahead of a public launch.
During the project I was responsible for generating scripts to create the bespoke Rheon components and implementing learnings from both lab and field testing programs back into the design process. I was also responsible for the scale-up from samples to full size sets in all garments, design and implementation of quality control measures and coordinating production of samples with global manufacturing partners.
I am listed as a co-inventor on the Design Patent DS3122US01 covering the Techfit Control and Adizero Control collections, including the Techfit Control Bra.
// Data Driven Design
Research has shown that breasts can move up to 19cm when not supported during running, the same G force as an F1 driver, whilst over 90% of women are wearing a sports bra that doesn’t fit them properly.
I developed a computational algorithm that used breast displacement direction and magnitude to optimise placement of RHEON™ film to maximise support during activity, minimise compression at rest and maintain breathability in areas of peak thermal sensitivity.
This allowed RHEON
™ technology to be applied to the Bra in such a way that it provided support and compression when it was most needed during activity, without sacrificing comfort. Providing the support and comfort of an encapsulation bra in a compression bra package.
// The Science of Support
“Adidas & RHEON LABS collaborated with Professor Joanna Wakefield-Scurr, Professor of Biomechanics, and her team at the University of Portsmouth alongside their specialist breast biomechanics laboratory, to uncover the effects of these shocking figures on athlete performance. Over the years, their research has revealed that poor breast support causes the entire body to compensate for this additional movement, leading to significantly reduced running performance.
It indicated that breast support for runners can lead to a reduction in stride length of up to 4cm, citing that wearers become more hesitant to stride out – over a marathon distance, that’s a whole mile lost due entirely to poor breast support. This is backed by another study by the University of Memphis that found that good breast support is enough to improve an athlete’s running performance by as much as 7%.”
- RHEON LABS, 2024
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