How Nike Is Using Robots To Create Better Sports Bras
Yes, you read that right.
As any woman knows, shopping for athleisure can be a dreadful experience. It feels impossible to find leggings that fit, but aren’t too tight, sports bras that are supportive but we still feel confident in, and material that we don’t feel sweaty and sticky in. Sports bras can be particularly difficult. Some women like support, some like style, and some will even just wear sports bras as shirts.
Tania Flynn, Nike’s VP of Women’s Apparel Product Design, along with the rest of the womenswear team at Nike, understands the struggle, and they’re working to make sports bras more comfortable and individualized.
Tania Flynn recently broke down the technology that Nike is using to create sports bras that will fit real women. Nike has been doing body scans of thousands of women across the world to help them develop their size range. Tania explained that women of the same height or weight are not going to have the same bodies, and as a result, Nike tries to build their sports bras more around shape. Nike’s website helps women find practically personalized bras by using filters such as level of support, cup type, closure type, activities and sports. As well, there are over 20 sizing options for sports bras, and consumers can filter out results by selecting body size, breast size, or both.
One of the pieces of technology that Nike is proudest of is Hayley, a sweating robot. This bot has helped them find the best areas in sports bras including venting. Nike also uses a “bra bot”, which has breast-like tissue that moves. This allows designers to have a constant and repetitive test of products on the tissue.
In celebrating 50 years of the brand, Nike also made a pledge to make the “Future 50 For Her”. This is a promise to create a place for women to grow and to help them break down barriers in sports. These sports bras, as well as campaigns and collections with athletes like Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams, are just the start of the next 50 years.
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