Nanotech fabrics on global scale: high-tech clothing and the FIFA World Cup 2014 in Brazil

The football championship 2014 in Brazil has already started, hundred goals have already been scored, yet one question seems to stay unanswered. What do the players jerseys consist of? The FIFA Football World Cup is the ideal platform to showcase new technology around the continually evolving field of sportswear. With 32 teams across the globe kit suppliers, like Puma have been working in overdrive to ensure that the players have kits that are optimised to improve their performance on the field.

While most people focus on the patriotic colors, there is also a lot of technology that goes into those kits that are worn by the players. Take the case of Puma, which supplies kits to the teams such as Italy, Ghana, Cameroon, Algeria and Uruguay. The kits supplied to the teams include the latest innovation from Puma - PWR ACTV (Power Active Technology) which combines athletic taping and compression fit fabric, within the apparel. This shirt by PUMA is the first shirt ever that includes athletic taping in the shirt.

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Now what does athletic taping mean?

It is the process of applying tape directly to the skin in order to maintain a stable position of bones and muscles during athletic activity. The goal of this athletic taping is to restrict the motion of injured joint, compress soft tissues to reduce swelling, serve as a splint, protect the injured joint form re-injury. Normally these tapes are taped directly to the skin, this time they are in the material itself. The ACTV tape is placed strategically in the garment, looking like a very thin rubberised coating. It provides micro-massage to the player to specific muscle areas, which helps promote energy supply to the muscles.

What are compression fit fabrics?

Compression sportswear is used by athletes during exercise or a soccer game to prevent chafing and rashes, as well as to ease muscle stiffness and quicken recovery time. This clothes may be shirts, shorts, tights or underwear. They are form-fitting garments often made from a spandex-type material. Spandex or elastane is a synthetic fiber known for its exceptional elasticity.

The main benefits of compression sportswear is that it keeps muscles warm to prevent muscle strain and fatigue and wick sweat away from the body to prevent chafing and rashes.

Compression fit fabrics are like rubber bands tightly along the players’ bodies, holding the muscles tightly together to prevent vibration while running. The jersey moves with you and acts like a second skin.

Its the closest thing you can get to not wearing a shirt, while actually wearing one.

Another feature of nanotech clothing?

In the course of this CAJ it has already been shown that nanotech clothing can be bullet-proof, waterproof, but nevertheless breathable. What has not been revealed, however, is the fact that nanotech clothing is also able to regulate the body temperature. How does this work?

The concept of clothes regulating body temperature is closely linked to the waterproof and breathable characteristics of high-tech clothing. Instead of just preventing moisture from penetrating the fabric and evaporating the sweat, this kind of technology absorbs the excess heat created by the body, stores it and releases it later, as the body cools down. This smart technology has been certified by the NASA for the use in outer space.

One of the more popular brands of this kind of clothing is Outlast®. This clothing system recycles the body’s heat, captures it, stores it and when needed releases it. This can be achieved by the Thermocules® (microcapsules) on the inside layer of the piece of clothing. These Thermocules absorb, store and release excess body heat. In this vein Outlast® products seek to reduce overheating and shivering and regularly distribute the warmth.  

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How do Thermocules store heat? What do PCM-materials have to do with it?

The answer to this question are the PCM-materials. These are phase-change materials, used to cool medicine, for example. PCM is a substance that melts or solidifies at a certain temperature. These materials use phase changes (solidifying/liquefying) to absorb or release relatively large amounts of latent heat. Latent heat is the energy released or absorbed by a body during a constant temperature process. This means that only the substance’s physical state changes, which causes energy to be absorbed or released, but not its temperature.

The temperature of PCMs rises as they absorb heat. They continue to absorb heat until all the material is transformed to the liquid phase. When the ambient temperature around the liquid material falls, it solidifies and releases the stored heat.

Ice cubes are an illustrative example of how phase change materials work: as they melt in a drink, they absorb heat from their environment; as they solidify in the freezer compartment, they release heat into it.

When an ice cube forms, the particles of the freezing water move together, releasing the stored energy, as there is no room left for it;  when he melts, the particles move apart, making space for energy to be absorbed.

Why is temperature regulating clothing needed?

In the first place it has long only been used by athletes, as it keeps them comfortable while they exercise. In the last couple of years, however, this type of clothing has also become popular for everyday use. Waking up in the middle of the night sweating, for example, means a sleepless night for many people. Temperature regulating clothing can give them a better night’s sleep.