Athleta debuts new PowerMove material
Gap-owned sports brand Athleta has launched PowerMove, a proprietary new knit with both vertical and horizontal compression, cut on the cross grain “for more stretch vertically on the body for explosive movements such as box jumps and burpees”.
The fabric was introduced as part of new, eight-piece collection Train, which follows over three years of wear tests with women, from elite athletes to everyday consumers. Third-party tests interrogated each article’s shape retention, strength, pilling, wicking, snagging and breathability properties.
Warp knit from post-consumer polyester fibres in a fine, interlocking construction on a 50-gauge double knit machine, the line has been designed for a sleek hand-feel with “optimal coverage, supportive stretch and weight”. The polyester is derived from recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) plastic bottles.
According to designer Fiona Fairhurst, who helped develop PowerMove while at Athleta, the team also worked on a biobased polyester, polyamide and elastane version.
On the newly released rPET fabric, Ms Fairhurst said she had “worked really hard” to create “a standout material that felt and performed better” than anything else in the “saturated” activewear market.
Image: Athleta.
