Adidas is teaming up with Rheon Labs for the SS23 season to use a former NASA space agency project for its sportswear.
This is about the “intelligent polymer Rheon”, which is to be used for the new ‘Adidas Techfit Control’ collection, the sports goods manufacturer from Herzogenaurach announced on Wednesday. It is intended to offer athletes extended support during training.
The technology emerged from a NASA project and was developed over 15 years at Imperial College in London. It’s an “energy-absorbing superpolymer that is highly strain-sensitive,” according to the media release. This means it remains soft and flexible in its natural state, but stiffens when subjected to stress.
The name ‘Rheon’ derives from the physics branch of rheology – a discipline that deals with the deformation and flow behavior of materials and how they react to the application of force.
The products equipped with this technology get on the “key muscles” with reactive strands of TPE (Thermoplastic Elastomers) with Rheon that adapt to the movement.
The ‘Adidas Techfit Control’ collection will be available from March 15 at Adidas in stores and online.