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Apparel, Footwear, Fashion

SKYN® Condoms Experiments In Sports Performance Apparel

• By  Textile Excellence
• July 27, 2016

Taking the SKYNFEEL™condom material out of the bedroom and onto the athletics track

Ansell, a global leader in protection solutions and the makers of SKYN® Condoms, an innovative brand of premium condoms and lubricants, has launched SKYNFEEL™ APPAREL. This one-of-a-kind conceptual long jump suit for elite athletes is made of SKYNFEEL™, the same revolutionary condom material that lets you feel everything. With cutting edge design, drawing inspiration from biomimicry, SKYNFEEL APPAREL seeks to minimise body limitation and give extra airtime to the long jump athlete.

"The SKYN® brand has innovation woven into its DNA," says Jeyan Heper, President & General Manager, Sexual Wellness Global Business Unit at Ansell. "In the world of competitive sports, athletes look for every advantage, and we knew our SKYNFEEL condom material was revolutionary in our own industry, therefore we turned to the world of performance athletics and decided to conduct an experiment in apparel. We wanted to allow ourselves to think differently, outside of our own condom box."

To create the one-of-a-kind concept garment, SKYN Condoms partnered with fashion designer Pauline Van Dongen, whose wearable technology creations have won wide acclaim. "Experiments like this can point the way to the future," says Van Dongen. "For me, SKYNFEEL APPAREL is about challenging the status quo, trying something totally new, daring to innovate, imagine and inspire."

The resulting SKYNFEEL APPAREL garment features dragonfly wing-inspired flaps located on the edge of the body, constructed from a thin layer of SKYNFEEL and reinforced by a geometric laser cut grid. Designed with the long jumper's technique in mind, the flaps stay flat during the run, to open up with the jump - just as the athlete twists their arms and straightens their legs. The aerodynamic design creates an upward lift that could help long jumpers stay in the air just a little bit longer.        

Textile Excellence