Do The Clothes Make The Athlete?

New technology in sportswear is fascinating. Everything from uniforms for the pros to basic active wear for regular folks, it seems there is always something new and improved. Most all clothing technology has 1 main goal, to improve the athlete's performance.

This is an especially current topic since AC Milan unveiled their new jerseys earlier this month. It is claimed the jerseys pack a technical punch that raises the uniform to a new level of greatness. Next season players will be wearing the uniform as either a single layer TECHFIT™ PowerWEB uniform or with base layers under a FORMOTION™ tradition fit uniform. The TECHFIT™ PowerWEB uses compression fabrics and TPU strips on precise parts of the body to concentrate muscular energy. According to a recent espn.com article, this concentrated muscular energy will give the players, “explosive power, acceleration and resistance, whilst reducing muscle vibration, improving the athlete's posture, the feel of their body and level of core stability." The ForMotion™ strip use three-dimensional, elastic fabrics to adapt to the “body of the player and subsequently improve the fit of the strip in order to optimize movement, comfort and increase freedom of action.” That seems like a hefty delivery for such a lightweight fabric.


History shows us technology in clothing can either raise the bar or just falsely raise expectations. In the raising the bar category I am reminded of the Fastskin LZR Racer Speedo at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Athletes who wore this high end woven elastane-nylon and polyurethane suit outperformed at the games to such an extent, some called the suit “Technology Doping.” World records were shattered and every winner in every men's event in the Beijing Olympics was wearing this swimsuit.


On the false expectations side of the spectrum is the newly popular toning clothing. From brands like Reebok and Fila, this clothing contains sewn in resistance bands which the companies tout will optimize a workout. Much speculation has been cast about the actual benefit of wearing such toning clothing. Some studies show little or no benefit, while others show as much as 30% more calories are burned during certain physical actives in the clothing. It must be noted, however, this type of clothing is rather new so there have not been many studies on the topic.


I cannot comment on which camp these new AC Milan uniforms will fall, that has yet to be seen next season. However I am looking forward to see if other leagues follow suit. Ref. bsponiatowa.pl, espn.com, ioffer.com, michifus.com, thatsfit.com, wikipedia.org