A new smart sports bra in Nike’s spring 2018 collection will feature an adaptive material that adjusts chest support based on the level of intensity of a person’s workout.
The Nike Motion Adapt Bra looks like a traditional sports bra, however it’s comprised of a foam and polymer hybrid interior that stretches at rest to form a user’s body and hardens when it senses impact.
The idea is that it can adjust support levels for women depending on whether they’re doing a low impact activity, such as yoga, or something more intense, such as running, interval training or boxing.
“If you pull the front of the bra very slowly, you will feel the adaptive fabric moving with your hands,” Nicole Rendone, Design Director for Nike Bras and Innovation, said in a statement. “But if you pull it very quickly and with force, the fabric will resist movement by locking out, feeling almost hard.”
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The high-support material is across the entire chest, while a mesh panel up the racerback and perforation in the front provide ventilation. The material is designed so that even when it tenses up it isn’t as hard as armor, but simply adds support as the activity level picks up.
This marks the latest sports bra innovation to come out of the Nike Sports Research Lab in recent months. In July, the company announced a line of bras with its proprietary Flyknit material, which is constructed with an ultra-soft nylon-spandex yard that form fits to the body.