This is the new Nike PreCool Vest; not your average sports equipment, but it's very cool..A 1960s mini dress and medical packaging were the inspiration when it came to redesigning Nike's original PreCool Vest. First introduced at the Olympics in Athens, Nike wanted to make it lighter, more flexible, better fitting and refillable a tall order for a piece of equipment athletes have been praising since Athens.

The vest is designed to cool the body’s core temperature. Since 25% of our body’s total energy goes into moving muscle and 75% into regulating heat, reducing an athlete’s core temperature before the marathon or a field hockey match means more energy for the competition itself. Indeed, with core cooling, athletes can often last 21% longer. Given Beijing’s hot and humid conditions, the PreCool Vest is a key piece of equipment that can help provide the advantage an athlete needs.

In improving the vest, Eddy Harber and Irena Ilcheva of Nike’s AIT or Advanced Innovation Team focused on apparel development turned to high fashion, specifically a dress made of tiny metal discs. Like chain mail, it clings to its wearer. It was thought the geometry—smaller discs to hug the body’s curves and larger discs over flatter planes like the back and stomach—would work for the vest. A grid of triangles was used, smaller on the shoulders and larger down the spine, to maximize skin contact. The closer the fit, the less ice needed to cool the body, and the lighter the vest became.

Each triangle is made of two layers to keep it cool. The inner one is filled with water, which is frozen, while the outer layer insulates like a thermos. Coated with aluminum, the triangles also reflect radiant heat working like the coating on mirrored sunglasses. That coating and insulated layer also mean less ice. Even more weight was reduced by making the PreCool Vest refillable. Instead of having to travel with a seven-pound vest pre-filled with liquid, the design team created sealed compartments that athletes fill and freeze before competition. The product inspiration came from medical packaging used to transport blood and other fluids. Medical products have strict compliance issues—they must be absolutely leak proof. "As we were thinking ‘How do we make this?’" Harber explains, "We looked to the medical packaging and how it’s made with one big weld. That was a perfect solution."

Nike partnered with a medical supply company to make the actual vest. Each one will be individually tested, and though the engineering that goes into the vests is high tech, they’re being made from sustainable materials. Perhaps the most interesting fact is all th ematerials used are ‘Considered’, with the PreCool Vest made of recycled Nike Air soles and the felt carry case, which helps keep the vest cold, comes from recycled men’s suits.

Comments

Add New

Sean   |2008-05-06 This is a joke, yes? Reply | Quote

Anonymous   |2008-05-06 thats the crapest thing ive ever seen. Might aswell just strap the ice cube tray round me stomach!! Reply | Quote

KaTo   |2008-05-06 What the hell is this?! Sorry Nike, definately crap. Reply | Quote

nico   |2008-05-06 sucks Reply | Quote

Rod   |2008-05-06 hahahaha ridiculous... nike should go and invest in shirt design instead...cuz their new kits are basically the same as last years... Reply | Quote

a.nonymous   |2008-05-09 PUT THAT VEST ON AND YOU WILL BE IRON MAN :grin Reply | Quote

hallo  - h     |2008-06-22 richtig geil :grin :grin :grin :grin :grin :grin :grin :grin :grin :grin :grin :grin :grin :grin :grin Reply | Quote

melikeschelsea   |2008-07-04 what made me laugh is that whole paragraph of how they spent so much time and money and research going into developing the triangles and the layers... help them... really, it's probably like a group of people who managed to persuade their manager to bring this ridiculously designed thing out and they're pretty proud of it, and so it came out and we're all laughing at it. it's probably gonna cost like $300 and no one will be able to afford it except giving them away to sport stars to be endorsed. Reply | Quote

Vicki  - It works!   |2008-08-02 Who cares how it looks as long as it works and is reasonably priced. It's no worse than any of the other ugly vests out there. I watched it get tested in LA at the US Soccer Academy National Championships and it was great as my son does have trouble in the heat. Where can we get these? Reply | Quote

bob and fred  - this mad   |2008-08-19 omg its like fully sick me and fred love it! maaan we wish we had a pair dude yu gotta get us one orite hahahahaha its pre cool neway catch brother lattterssss xxx Reply | Quote

bob and fred   |2008-08-19 maaaaaaateeeeeeee like fully sick u no i love itttt me and ma frend fred its pre coool brother catch lattterrrrs Reply | Quote

bella  - its lovely   |2008-08-19 heeeey omg i loveee it! its so fashionable and h0t! i sooo gotta buy a pair like u no wat i mean? hehehehehe cya Reply | Quote

yahhhh mum BITCHH YAHHH  - yeah bitch hi yahhhhh   |2008-08-21 SARPPPPP BOSS. DIS SUIT IS FLY AS CAN BE. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK SHIZZ. PEACE LATERZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. Reply | Quote

whaat   |2008-10-26 lmao ya'll are retarded all yall do is talk shit i have tested this product during an AAU game for basketball and it works alot better than an under armour on keeping my upper body cool and its actually not even too much weight i laugh at ppl like yall who think yall know so much Reply | Quote

Write comment
Name:
Email:
Website:
Title:
UBBCode:	-color-aquablackbluefuchsiagraygreenlimemaroonnavyolivepurpleredsilvertealwhiteyellow -size-tinysmallmediumlargehuge
	Please input the anti-spam code that you can read in the image.

Powered by !JoomlaComment 3.26

3.26 Copyright (C) 2008 Compojoom.com / Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."