project
engineered woven kit
customer
adidas cycling
year
2018
task
apparel design
Cycling garments need to be stretchy ... tight as hell for aerodynamic reasons, comfortable to move in over hours and hours in the saddle, need to protect the rider from UV, weather, wind and overheating. And they need to look cool when standing upright in the same way as when sitting on the saddle being curled like a bagel.
In that context, the right joyce of material is key.
After riding in scrachty wooly pullovers until the 60ies, over stinky polyester in the 70ies and 80ies, technical material research took off to a much more advanced level since then. Within the last years 4way stretch woven fabrics found their way into cycling, fulfilling incredibly well the above mentioned needs while being far lighter than a comparable knitted quality.
Being able to seamlessly engineer different functional zones, such as for ventialtion, compression, grip, aerodynamics and so on, bul- ky seams and other distraction on skin can be perfectly avoided. On top the entire material looks sleek and classy...
The adidas woven jersey offers a mix of dense windprotective material in the front panel with engineered vetilation zones and aerodynamic support on the upper back to cut off airstreams in case you ride increadibly fast...
The bibs come with integrated grip around the leg opening and graded compression distriputed over the legs according to the needs in individual areas.
Pics by Michael Kleber
