Enid Burns | Evolving Consumer

Nike Makes Bottles a Boon for South African Football Teams

96323937DM014_Nike_Introduc — Nike makes team uniforms from recycled plastic bottles.

The recent trend in sports and fitness clothing is green, sustainability. Nike is part of this trend and especially when it comes to football (that’s soccer to many of you), and the upcoming 2010 World Cup in South Africa. This year Nike is outfitting the Brazil team with home and away kits, plus eight away kits for other Nike-sponsored federations appearing in the games. What’s so sustainable about these kits or outfits you ask? Nike’s fabric suppliers sourced plastic bottles from landfill sites in Japan and Taiwan to produce the jerseys and shorts.

Eight plastic bottles produce one jersey. To turn bottle into soft, breathable fabric bottles the manufacturer melts the plastics down to produce new yarn and then convert that yarn into fabric to construct jerseys. Just because the jerseys are made from plastic doesn’t mean players will drown in their own sweat. Designed to keep players drier, cooler, and more comfortable, the outfit has a handful of features. The Dri-Fit fabric is 15 percent lighter than previous Nike kit fabrications, which also benefits players’ ability to do their stuff out on the field. The coordinating shorts have additional ventilation zones below the waistband and near the base of the spine to keep the outfit breathable.

The outfits have some protection built in as well. Nike Pro Combat, adds protection against light impact and abrasion in the Slider and Impact shorts. The Pro Combat also features a therma Mock that protects a player’s neck against harsh conditions such as sun.

The process saves raw materials and reduces energy consumption by up to 30 percent compared to the manufacture of virgin polyester. For the upcoming season and competition, Nike salvaged roughly 13 million plastic bottles, totaling around 254,000 kg of polyester waste from landfill sites. That’s enough to stretch a distance of 3,000 kilometers if the bottles are laid out end-to-end.

The games take place in South Africa with teams from Brazil, The Netherlands, Portugal, U.S.A., South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Serbia, and Slovenia. Get your own team kits at nike.com and nikefootball.com.

Check out Nike’s video: Nike Introduces 2010 National Team Kits Designed for Increased Performance with Lower Environmental Impact

Lucy Shapes Up Women’s Workouts

It helps to look good, even while you sweat. Lucy Activewear offers a line of clothing with performance built in. The lucy Power Pant II provides shaping and is constructed from materials that are odor-inhibiting, moisture wicking, offer core compression, and 4-way stretch. The Power Pant II gives you a

yoga pant-style that skims the body including the hip and thigh area where we could all use a little slimming help. The garment’s Powermax material is a machine washable Supplex lycra fabric.

Another feature of the lucy line is that the company doesn’t believe in the one-size-fits-all approach, at least when it comes to height. Pants are available in short, regular, and tall. It’s too often overlooked, and the wrong length can lead to awkward workouts and injuries if the pant leg gets underfoot.

Lucy activewear Lucy Power Pant II

Omega Keeps Olympic Time

Omega-Olympics — Omega has kept track of time for the Olympic Games since 1932.

Omega has had its hand in the Olympic Games since 1932. At that time Omega supplied 30 stopwatches to track all 14 sports events. Over the years Omega developed timing technology such as the photo finish, which captured images of athletes as they crossed the finish line. This helped determine who had the lead when all the competitors finished in a group.

The drive to advance its accuracy and reliability in timing for the Olympics means Omega does much more than supply 30 stopwatches to the games. In Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games Omega deployed 220 timekeeping professionals and engineers supported by 290 local volunteers. The watch manufacturer brings roughly 250 tons of equipment for timekeeping, on-venue results, and TV services. The equipment and support from timekeeping professionals tracks athletes to the split second, and often means the athletes wear sensors so they are accurately tracked during competition.

Omega Watches

Via: CNET

Xplore.XGX Gloves Tell You Where to Go

While Olympic skiers have a defined course to travel, the rest of us skiers want to explore the whole mountain whether it’s Whistler in Vancouver or another slop. The X-Plore.XGX gloves have GPS built in. The thumb display tracks altitude, speed, distance, duration, and weather conditions on a planned route. You can also adjust the settings, just don’t do it while flying down the slope.

Via DVICE

Zanier X-Plore.XGX gloves

Custom Armour Protects Athletes

SCUTA garment — The SCUTA project is working on custom garments for individual athletes for football, Taekwando, and Cricket.

Certain sports require padding to protect athletes. That padding has sections, panels, seams, and doesn’t always conform to the body. The Tailored Injury Prevention & Performance Improvement for Protective Sports Garments project known as SCUTA is a joint effort with experts from Loughborough, Nottingham, Cambridge, and Cranfield University in the U.K. and the Georgia Institute of Technology in the U.S. SCUTA works on the areas of manufactguring, sports technology, sports science, remote sensing, and impact and aims to develop garments tailored to the individual.

SCUTA concentrates on garments for three disciplines: Football, Taekwondo, and Cricket,

though it doesn’t specify if that’s American or European Football, one can assume both sports would benefit from the research. The group researches garments made from an additive manufacturing method known as Rapid Manufacturing, which allows for the production of virtually any geometry. It

SCUTA construction — Garments are made from layers of protective fabric.

can be custom made through a three-dimensional scanning process so each team member gets his own garment that fits the body perfectly. The garment

will be made in one piece, without seams or joins, and can be optimized to reduce the particular impact conditions of the sport and even position player. The defensive players may get a garment that’s protective in different areas than the offensive players. The project utilizes state of the art manufacturing, biomechanical, and impact facilities to continue its reasearch.

Video Enhancing Tiger’s Strokes

SportsMEDIA Technology Corporation, the company that draws the virtual yellow line on the football field in TV broadcasts of games, just made it to the green with a multi-year deal with the Golf Channel to enhance broadcasts of its PGA Tour and LPGA tour coverage. This mean when a pro-golfer lines up his shot, the SMART Virtual Putting Line will draw a line to show the optimum putting line. It will use AimPoint’s positioning data system to measure the slope and grain of the putting surface to rate the difficulty. The optimum putting line will show where the ball must travel to make a successful putt.

See the action this week on the Golf Channel’s broadcast of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. You can decide whether the addition enhances the broadcast when the Golf Channel puts it on the line with SportsMedia Technology.

PowerBar Makes Workout BonBons

Take a packet of PowerBar Gel Blasts on your next extended workout for an energy boost.

PowerBars have come a long way from their original chewy formula. The company has developed a dual source energy blend, C2MAX, made from sugar, glucose syrup from wheat, and invert sugar to boost energy and carbs during a workout. PowerBar Gel Blasts energy chews with a flavor choice of raspberry and strawberry banana use C2MAX to provide just such energy in an easy-to-eat form for workouts.

The quantities may be a little difficult to digest. PowerBar recommends that during activities lasting more than one hour, exercisers should take on -to-three pieces every 10 minutes, followed by water or sports drink. You can alternatively down a packet of 30 chews, the equivalent of one and a half PowerBar Gels, 60 minutes before exercise.

Valentine’s Day Gift Guide

Chocolates are said to be good for your health, but why not give gifts that are good for the heart and get your sweetie moving. That’s a gift for the heart! KineticShift has a few recommendations to get you on the right track this Valentine’s Day.

Oregon Scientific: SmartHeart SE102 Heart Rate Monitor

Oregon Scientific SmartHeart HeartRate Monitor — Measure heartbeats per minute with the SmartHeart from Oregon Scientific

This water resistant monitor tracks heart rate, calories burned, average heart rate, and vibrates to send alerts. The SmartHeart features a touch-sensitive lens so you can toggle through settings with a tap.

(Oregon Scientific HeartSmart heart rate monitor ; $49.99)

Urbanears: Tanto Headphones

Listen to music with style during workouts or jaunts to the store with Urbanears Tanto headphones. The retro-style headphones has a fabric cord to add strength and has 36 mm handmade drivers. The remote/microphone lets the headphones double for a headset with a cell phone.

(Urbanears; $39.99)

Speck: PixelSkin Case

Speck PixelSkin for mobile phones — Shield mobile phones from breaking with a silicon case from Speck.

Protect your sweetie’s phone during workouts with Speck’s PixelSkin. The no-slip grip is due to its textured silicon construction. The phone-specific case provides access to all the phone’s ports and controls. For Valentine’s Day, Speck is offering 25 percent off red, pink, and purple phones.

(Speck PixelSkin ; $34.95)

Nike: Lightweight Running Gloves

They say cold hands, warm heart. That doesn’t mean your love’s digits should freeze off by the end of winter. Lightweight Running Gloves from Nike uses a Dri-FIT material made from high-performance, microfiber polyester fabric to wick sweat from hands to relieve runners and those just smitten of sweaty palms.

(Nike Lightweight Running Gloves; $15.00)

Under Armour: Metal

Keep him warm on the slopes or any other outdoor activity in the extreme cold. Metal has diamond-faced ColdGear construction to remove moisture while holding in warmth. The top has ventilation zones for heat release and temperature regulation. It also features flatlock seams to increase mobility without causing irritation.

(Under Armour Metal; $79.99)

AP Keeps You Updated on Vancouver Olympics

With the Vancouver 2010 Olympics about a week away, our interest is peaked. KineticShift will report on some of the news, but we’re looking at athletes’ gear and clothing as well as the technology used to judge results. For results and other news, we look to a few news outlets. Top on our list is a site created by the Associated Press to cover the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. Go to http://wintergames.ap.org to check out all the events surrounding the Games. AP, which has covered the Olympics since the Games were revived in 1896, will post coverage from its sports writers, related stories from other writers, and produce a daily Webcast, “Beyond the Medal” hosted by snowboarder and reality TV personality Jesse Csincsak.

Vibram Brings Runners Back to (Almost) Barefoot

Vibram Five Fingers women's KSO — Vibram Five Fingers shoes have five distinct toes on each to emulate your bare feet.

Sometimes technology advancements take you back to your natural state. In the case of Vibram Five Fingers, that’s barefoot. Vibram believes the 26 bones, 33 joints, 20 muscles, and hundreds of sensory receptors, tendons, and ligaments in the foot are a marvel of evolution, and best left in their natural state. Of course living in Manhattan, or many other places, don’t make running or even walking barefoot welcoming. Perhaps the last realm of barefoot action is the beach, or possibly a grassy field. But we opt for the protection of shoes everywhere else.

Vibram Five Fingers “shoes” have five distinct toes on each foot, and the soul emulates a bare foot with an arch. The company claims going barefoot, or wearing its shoes, strengthens muscles in the feet and lower legs; improves range of motion in ankles, feet, and toes; enhances balance and agility by stimulating neural function; and improves posture and alignment by not creating heel lift. Vibram Five Fingers has a range of models that lend themselves to running, water sports, hiking, traveling, yoga, and other disciplines of fitness. There’s a few therapeutic shoes on the market that make claims like this, and we plan to follow the space and take a closer look.

Rudy Project Eyes Medals in 2010 Olympics

Rudy Project Noyz sunglasses are a pick for 2010 Olympic athletes.

As the Olympics gear up athletes are at the ready. Eyewear and helmet manufacturer Rudy Project outfitted many competitors in Turin in 2006, and will outfit many more in Vancouver 2010. While goggles and helmets will be in order for certain sports, the Noyz Fluo will cover many eyes. The Fluo version of the Noyz sunglasses have a technicolored-look, though the Noyz model is available in many bold colors. The lenses have ImpactX sun technology, which allows for a lighter lens, adds impact resistance, and doesn’t stress crack or craze. For sight, the lenses have favorable optical properties with a lower light refraction index, internal stress, and chromatic dispersion than comparable polycarbonate lenses. This brings a lower surface reflection and higher definition and sharper images.

The Rudy Project was just named the exclusive eyewear and helmet supplier for the USRowing, a three-year partnership including support of the U.S. National Team in the 2012 Olympic Games in London. In Turin, Rudy Project gear was on athletes who won 45 medals (18 gold, 13 silver, and 14 bronze). This winter Olympics athletes from Germany, Finland, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Spain, and Italy plan to wear eyewear from this Rudy Project.

Sustainability Makes The North Face Top a Bonus

The North Face Women's El Cap Temple 1/4 top. — The North Face and Polartec boost recycled materials and function.

Polartec’s Women’s El Cap Temple 1/4 Zip top from The North Face is made from sustainable resources. Part of the fleece manufacturer’s eco-engineering line, it contains a minimum of 50 percent recycled content, and both companies continue to push to raise the bar on post-consumer materials. Why opt for a garment with such a high content of reused materials? Each shirt saves 6.6 lbs in C02 emissions, and 0.17 gallons of gas.

The earth conscious gear has its benefits. The pique knit is soft on the skin. It carries an ultraviolet protection factor (UPF) of 30. The El Cap Temple wicks moisture in a number of ways. It draws sweat and moisture away from skin while setting up a dry zone next to the skin. Moisture wicked to the surface is spread across the outer layer of the garment, and continues to make the top breathable. Wicking is crucial in a long sleeve garment, especially since it’s likely to act as a base layer for outside workouts.

The North Face’s Women’s El Cap Temple 1/4 Zip shirt is appropriate for a base layer in outdoor workouts over the winter. It’s also a great transitional top in those days nice enough to go out for a run, but not quite nice enough for short sleeves. The dual-layer fabric provides a degree of wind blocking, an important factor in transitional weather.

Energizer Lights Up Your Run

At 60 lumens the Energizer Micro LED Headlight will shed light on your evening run.

Evening runs get to be a bit daunting in the winter months. It gets dark, and you want to be sure you can see and be seen. That’s especially true in residential or even rural areas where streets may not be lit to brighter-than-day standards. It’s for these late-day runs and camping that the Energizer Micro LED Headlight comes in use. The LED light packs 60 lumens into a small light, and is waterproof to 1 meter, so you can even use it in the rain.

The light is mounted to an adjustable elastic band that fits snugly around your head, and the single AA battery fits discreetly in the back. The light has three modes: bright 60 lumens, dimmed from 100 percent to 6 percent light, and light from two red LEDs. The bright spotlight is rated to provide two hours of power, while the red light will shine for up to eight hours on a single battery. The light itself can also be angled three ways while mounted on your forehead including straight ahead, and two angles facing down.

In our tests the spotlight was quite bright, and even at a dimmer setting we were able to see what was ahead of us, and even a little wider area. If you use the light for running, or doing work around the house, you’ll have no problems seeing where you’re headed. The interesting setting is the red light setting. This is best for camping or being able get around in a dark space but not necessarily doing work. The red color is a bit easier on the eyes, and doesn’t cause you to lose all sight when you turn out the light. We were able to see in detail objects at arms length, and even a little beyond. We could read text easily, and saw enough detail to get around tight areas without colliding into objects.

No matter the setting, we advise you to adjust the light to face down slightly. This will still shine a bright light in order for you to see and more importantly be seen. Yet you won’t blind oncoming traffic. You’ll also save your own eyes in case you look into the mirror. That bright light will shine right back in your eyes! There’s other headlights on the market we’d like to try, but we do think Energizer gets it right for providing different brightness and light settings, plus angles while keeping it light and secure enough to stay on your head while running or doing other activities.

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