When we began IKIGAI we decided to sit down and evaluate what was on the market. What products players and teams had available to purchase. The same materials kept coming up time after time. The heavy lycra based garments. Lycra is a great material. As one of the directors at IKIGAI I have actually come from an endurance sports manufacturing background and there is plenty of use for lycra in the world of cycling and triathlon. However, when you are playing indoors with nonexistent air conditioning or on the outdoor courts in the roaring summer sun (yes we do get that in England occasionally) then you have to evaluate the purpose of that fabric and the features you actually require.
We work with severel UK material development companies who create some of the most leading edge fabrics in the sporting world. It was during a visit to our fabric supplier that we stumbled across a new light weight performance material which we named DriTech. Similar to some of the fabrics used by the big sports companies out there. We started to sample DriTech and apply it to our garment patterns. With a few adjustments and alterations we got there.
So why is DriTech better?
It is half the weight of the lycra currently used by most manufacturers. Dritech is a performance fabric with a soft handle which increases comfort for the athlete. The fibre construction allows water and perspiration to work away from the body and off the material surface enabling the player to stay dry and comfortable. DriTech has a two way mechanical stretch which means you get a better fit distributed over the body.
DriTech is featured in the below IKIGAI products:
Netball Dress
Netball Tops
Netball Patches
We are currently developing a super lightweight option which will reduce the fabric weight by 30gsm - After testing over the winter we hope to make this available in 2017.
If you want to know any more information about our materials please email hello@ikigaisports.com
Check out a few sample swatches we ran recently to test the DriTech print capabilities:
Sample prints have shown the DriTech takes our inks just as well as lycra and will retain the print perfectly.
Neons are now available at IKIGAI and the DriTech fabric shows them off wonderfully.
Seamless gradients acceptance means what you see on screen is what you get on the dress.
Our custom netball dresses start from £35.00
Lead times between 4-6 Weeks
Contact hello@ikigaisports.com
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