sportstyle

• IN THE STUDIO 20 • July 2021 sportstyle • sportstylemag.com "Every movement that you do throughout the day counts; the most important thing is movement," stated Harry Pino, PhD, a senior exercise physiologist at NYU Langone and the manager of exercise physiology at the Princeton Longevity Center, during a Well & Good podcast. He was joined by Evelyn Escobar, founder and CEO of Hike Clerb, who also weighed in on the movement goals discussion. "When I seek movement, when I want to work my body, I'm looking at things that feel natural to me," she said. "I'm not going into a cardio class…I'm going on a hike, going on a walk, riding my bike around my neighborhood. These little things that you don't think [of as] movements, but actually are — and are also providing you that physical outlet — are the things that I seek." Movement goals ultimately depend on the audience. "If you take an avid tennis player, movement goals don't do anything for them. But if you take the vast majority of people, getting up from your desk and going for a walk at lunchtime, that is a great movement goal for them," explained Pearl Izumi's, advanced product development team leader Rob Pickels, who adds that to improve physical fitness, you have to do something above and beyond. "Going from not doing anything to a walk everyday to a jog, to running a 5K leads to fitness, and we do see this happening." Textiles play an important role in this Covid-influenced exercise trend, with comfort a key factor. Pickels believes it is the responsibility of the apparel designer to use textiles to increase the comfort because that lowers the barrier of entry for those who otherwise would not want to commit to exercise. Wearing soft, comfortable materials next to skin during workouts pays off physically and emotionally to provide a feel-good fitness experience. Comfort is driving today's "casual performance" trend. With the boundaries between outdoor, home and workwear becoming more and more blurred, comfort, wellbeing and function will be in higher demand for our hybrid lives, according to a Performance Days report, that predicts performance wear adapting for casual everyday attire, along with increased commitment to sustainable materials. Cindy McNaull, business development director for Cordura Advanced Fabrics, stated, "Whether it's soft comfort in their workwear or functional durability in streetwear, consumers are integrating functionality and comfort in all aspects of their wardrobes. Outdoor has become everyday wear. And for Gen Z consumers especially, performance and sustainability is an expectation and a lifestyle." New Active Endeavors Textile development is keeping pace with post Covid trends by broadening the scope of performance in new ways. For example, brrr has laddered up its offering with brrr Pro, a new polyester product that elevates the company's Triple Chill Effect for athletic and athleisure markets and bolsters brrr's established Triple Chill Effect nylon product line. In development for three years, brrr Pro has heightened cooling fibers embedded with micro-cooling minerals. "When we started development on the Pro technology three years ago, we had no idea of the pandemic. But the stars aligned for us and we are able to launch a tech that speaks directly to the athletic/ athleisure space, a category that is king coming out of Covid with comfort and function seen as fashionable," said Mary- Cathryn Kolb, founder and CEO. For brrr the challenge was how to take advantage of polyester's functionality, and popularity, in athletic wear, while providing the cool touch factor of nylon. According to Kolb, the company's Triple Chill Effect technology serves as a great secret sauce, but the team needed to figure out how to put more of the sauce in the same amount of space. "With polyester we have to put so much of our mineral recipe to overcome the natural warmth and incremental performance that gives cooling performance," said Kolb. "In order for us to put more technology into polyester we had to figure out how to make our current tech micro-cooling." With the innovation of micro-cooling minerals, 30 times more tech was achieved in the same amount of polymer space. "We are now able to have a polyester yarn that performs like a nylon with its cooling properties," Kolb added. Brrr Pro polyester scored 0.194 in Qmax testing, which measures the cool-to-the-touch sensation of fabrics. According to the company, that Qmax score was 81 percent better than another brand of cooling fabric and 53 percent better than the score for comparable performance polyester. A Fall '21 brrr Pro program is in the market, with a bigger launch slated for Spring '22. Kolb believes that the pandemic has made consumers rethink their closet and their wallet. "Consumers acquired an appetite to shop different tiers of retail during the pandemic," said Kolb, IN PURSUIT OF MOVEMENT & THE WAY WE MOVE NOW "When I seek movement, when I want to work my body, I'm looking at things that feel natural to me, I'm not going into a cardio class…I'm going on a hike, going on a walk, riding my bike around my neighborhood." Evelyn Escobar Founder and CEO, Hike Clerb "Going from not doing anything to a walk everyday to a jog, to running a 5K leads to fitness, and we do see this happening." Rob Pickels Advanced product development, Pearl Izumi "WIth premium brands there's got to be a story about why to buy this brand for this much more. Technology is the only thing that is rooting that story, and hopefully makes consumers pull out their wallet and purchase." Mary-Cathryn Kolb Founder and CEO, brrr

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