Designing for Heat, Comfort and Speed
The ARC triathlon suit started with coffee about the 2020 Tokyo games, how heat and humidity could affect athletic outcomes. The initial premise of this project was to develop the best tri-suit for females and males in hot and humid conditions. As such we needed to investigate whether or not there was an issue, we wanted to understand what our elite athletes wanted. Initially the team focussed on elite females who are a diverse group, triathlon being made up of three distinct sports means that the body morphology will vary and a “one-size-fits-all” approach won’t suffice or work. We reached out to the top tier and they were open and honest the results were surprising. At the time we found that two-thirds of all elite females modified their tri-suit for elite competition and from that group 100% of them perceived a performance benefit from these alterations. This is a brilliant example of identifying lead users, these lead users will talk amongst themselves to help each other realise and share performance benefits as well as influence the community around them. The main complaints are poor material choice, poor design and poor cut of the garments.
Lab based testing was a key component to quantify performance. The simple question to answer, does the fabric make a difference. Testing showed back in 2019 and more recently in 2024 showed a decrease in heart rate and a decrease in core temperature in using materials treated with thermo regulating polymers. Actively cooling your body under load increases athletic performance
A key element to what would become a core tenant was design for diversity. DynamiqFit was derived from every athlete is different, unique morphology makes you, you. But materials behave differently if over or under stretched. Every garment is designed and strain-mapped against your specific morphology.
“First impressions, it’s really comfortable on, no tension points or restriction around the shoulders. It sat pretty well flush against my back with the closed back trisuit style, and I liked the length of the legs on the suit, the tension band there was great as the suit never shifted/ rolled up my leg in the water or moving around.” - Emma, Professional Triathlete
Each suit is iterative, as knowledge is developed the apparel is refined further. Each new garment builds on the last, knowledge is refined, adapted and applied
Contact the team for further details about the process, design and how to create your custom technical apparel