New product developments in sportswear not only make garments look and fit better, they also help athletes perform better. Many of these require uses of new or specialist technology within the manufacture of the garments, not just the materials they were made from. Final consumption of sports goods is currently highest in developed economies. However, both the production and consumption of sports textiles is expected to grow most quickly in the medium to long term in developing countries where living standards and lifestyles are changing fastest. Presented by: Anju A L, M Phil Scholar in School of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, Kannur University. Mail Id; aanjusree05@gmail.com This presentation only focus on a very small area

1. SPORTS TEXTILE: Key Trends in Design &
Materials and Its Specific Applications.
ANJU A L
M Phil Scholar
SPE & SS
KANNUR UNIVERSITY

2. INTRODUCTION
• Sports textile is one of the branch of technical textile. Now a days
sophisticated technology are used in technical textile to produce sports.
• Sportswear or active wear is clothing, including footwear, worn for
sport or physical exercise. Sport-specific clothing is worn for most
sports and physical exercise, for practical, comfort or safety reasons.
• Technical textile have enabled production of materials that are tougher
than wood, which breathe like skin, are waterproof like rubber and at the
same time are eco-friendly and highly economical. The augmentations
in the sports and leisure industry have resulted in the use of technical
textiles in different sports.

3. SPORTS TEXTILE PRODUCTS
Sports Composites
Artificial turf
Parachute Fabrics
Ballooning fabrics
Sail cloth
Sleeping bags
Sport nets
Sport shoes components
Swimwear
Fitness wear
Skiwear
Gymnastic uniforms
Football gear
Cricket wears
Horse riding suit
Rugby gear
Water sportswear
Winter active wear
Climbing and hiking
Cycling
Motor racing

5. Sports Textile is one of the segment of Technical Textile.
In sports previously a traditional apparel textile was used. For that the
player has to face so many problem like:
Sweating – which stick the fabric with body
Improper stretch ability
Inadequate fabric for fluid resistance for swimmer
Windproof, Waterproof fabric for sailor
Light weight shoe with proper strength & air circulation and improper
gripping during run
In recent years we have seen the design of fabrics that can overcome
these issues.

6. MATERIALS USED FOR THE MANUFACTURE
OF SPORTSWARE
FIBERS YARN
Polyester
Nylon (Polyamide)
Cotton
Lycra / Elastane
Goretex
NATURAL YARN
Cotton
Wool
Silk
SYNTHETIC YARN
Polyester
Lycra/Elastane/Spandex
Aramids
Acrylic
Nylon
Polypropylene/Olefin/Polyethelene
(PROCESSED FIBERS)
FIBERS → YARN → FABRIC ( Final Product)

7. PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS
COTTON
Strong
Not elastic so doesn’t stretch
Absorbent –soaks up water.
Creases easily
Durable
NYLON (POLYAMIDE)
Strong and Elastic
Does not absorb water
Crease resistant
Durable – hardwearing
Not very warm to wear

8. POLYESTER
Abrasion resistant – durable and hardwearing
Non Absorbent – Doesn’t soak up sweat and is resistant to rain
Crease resistant – Reduces ironing, good for clothes in sports bag
Reasonable insulator – keeps heat in quite well
Moth and mildew resistant – won’t rot if left damp
Resistant to acids – sweat is an acid
Collects static – not good if rubbing against other fabrics
Strong
Continue…
PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS

9. LYCRA / ELASTANE
Very elastic so stretches well.
Crease resistant
Durable so hardwearing
Medium strength
Not very absorbent so doesn’t soak
up sweat
Usually combined with other fibres to
make a stretchy, form fitting fabric.
GORETEX
Fabric used in skiwear,
hiking jackets etc.
Durably waterproof
Very breathable
Highly cold resistant
Extremely light
Resistant to flexing
PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS
Continue…

10. SOME APPLICATIONS OF
SPORTSWEAR

11. SWIMMING CLOTHING
Speedo Racer LZR
Created in 2008
•High technology lightweight swimsuit
•Well known performance enhancing clothing
after 2008 Olympics Compression technology
•Fabric and textile construction technology to
reduce surface and passive drag
•Improves body shape
•Improves swimming times by 1.9% to 2.2%

12. RUNNING SUITS / SKINS
Compression sportswear
is clothing usually worn
by athletes.
The main benefits of compression
sportswear is that
 It keeps the muscles warm to
prevent muscle strain and
fatigue
 Wick sweat away from the body
to prevent chafing and rashes.
 Enhance athletic performance.

13. FOOTBALL BOOTS
• In 1954 Germany won the World Cup in footwear that would change the
football boot industry for ever.
In 1956 adidas took their
‘revolution’ one step further and
introduced ‘polyamide’ sole units
instead of leather.
Adi Dassler, of sports firm
adidas introduced football
boots with screw-in studs.

14. FOOTBALL BOOTSContinue…
The Nike Mercurial Vapour is now on
the market.
• Weighing only 198 g (the same as
some sprinting spikes)
• 1994 saw the next great ‘mass-
market’ innovation in football
boots, and this again came
from adidas with the Predator.
• Nike have also developed other technologies including – synthetic
KNG100 upper, side lacing for increased striking surface.

15. BENCH SHIRT
• Improves power lifting performance
• Protective device
• Can be cut and modified by yourself (depending on equipment
rules)
• Stiff material
• Limits flexibility
• Poly and denim
• Single and multiple thicknesses
• Act as dampener and a giant Spring
The use of bench shirts
•Improve power lifting performance by approximately 10% to 30%

16. CYCLING
• In cycling, clothing is continually developed to reduce the air
resistance of the clothing. While this may not seem significant at
first, when results often depend on fractions of seconds after many
laps of the track, anything that helps increase speed and reduce
workload can make all the difference.

17. SOCCER JERSEYS
TECHFIT: created by Adidas
Enhances sporting performance
•Increases body stability and posture(circulation)
•Reduces muscle vibration
•Scientific researches:
1.1% faster
5.3% more power
4.0% jump higher
0.8% more efficient (endurance)

18. PROTECTIVE HEADGEAR
• As part of the protective
“garment,” sports headgear
serves to mitigate the deleterious
effects of these head collisions.
• Polymeric materials must provide the essential properties for processing,
construction, and management of the cumulative degradative exposures of
helmet material storage and use.
• Sport headgear industry have implemented reconditioning and
recertification processes for helmets due to deterioration in an effort to
maintain initial performance standards.

19. WEARABLE SENSORS FOR SPORTS PERFORMANCE

20. • Wearable sensors are useful tools in monitoring and improving sports
performance.
• They can be used to obtain physiological, performance and other data before,
during and after a sporting activity.
• The data are used to optimise training or recovery, but also to reduce
human error in competitions, and, in some cases, ensure safety.
• A number of different sensors can be used, singularly or in combinations, but the
most commonly measured parameters remain heart and breathing activities as
well as movement and posture data.
• In the future, it is likely that the industry will continue to benefit from
technological developments in adjacent fields such as telemedicine or the military.
• Textiles with sensor systems will continue to follow on the current digital trends
and be linked to smart phones, ‘apps’, digital games and social media.

21. CONCLUSION
New product developments in sportswear not only make garments look
and fit better, they also help athletes perform better.
Many of these require uses of new or specialist technology within the
manufacture of the garments, not just the materials they were made from.
Final consumption of sports goods is currently highest in developed
economies. However, both the production and consumption of sports
textiles is expected to grow most quickly in the medium to long term in
developing countries where living standards and lifestyles are changing
fastest.