Athleta
September 7, 2016
Beautiful. Supported. Sculpted. Strong.
This is what it feels like to wear Athleta's latest breakthrough: Sculptek.
This innovative new fiber technology started with an idea from Athleta's design and R&D teams to revolutionize zone compression support, delivering a new experience for women athletes. Through Athleta's strong partnerships with sourcing teams and fabric mills, and a rigorous and collaborative design and testing process, they were able to maximize the potential of this new fiber technology, which comes to life in Athleta's Stealth Collection.
This spirit of innovation and collaboration is intrinsic to Athleta — a brand created to address the need for apparel to meet the specific needs of women athletes and active women.
Design, fit and fabric teams work together to create activewear for her, with fabric that moves with and works for them and fit that empowers women to embrace their active lifestyles. Women athletes design Athleta apparel, which is tested, prototyped, and retested by the women of Athleta as well as customers before it hits the stores and athleta.com.
“Each customer has a different body type and a different body shape," said Kim Sajnog, sr. director of technical design and product insights. "When we are building clothing, we're actually engineering it to make sure it can fit a range of sizes and a range of shapes. We design specifically and uniquely for women's and girl's bodies and activities. We are thinking about what she needs."
Sculptek is special because of the way it stretches. It doesn't tighten as it stretches out. It offers true 360-degree stretch in both length and width. Integrating this technology into designs tailored to maximize the performance potential delivers a collection designed for dynamic performance — helping the wearer feel great while she trains harder.
“The goal was to make these products that fit so flawlessly that you do better at whatever your end goal is," designer Jeannette Peters explained. “If you go out for a run, your (pant) is going to really fit you and you can run harder and last longer."
Check out the video, above, for a glimpse behind the scenes at Athleta and Gap Inc., and get to know the team behind Sculptek.
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