ONE IN A MELON

This board was created and submitted for the AATCC Concept 2 Consumer Student Design Competition. The theme for 2018 was All Day Adventures in Activewear. The requirements for the competition were to create 3-6 apparel pieces for a specific outdoor or indoor athletic activity that must be able to translate into everyday wear. Two or more surface designs must also have been included.

For this competition, I chose the athletic activity of yoga. This posed a challenge because clothing for yoga is often worn as everyday wear. When home, I participate in yoga classes everyday and so I chose to focus on issues I see most often in my own clothing and of those around me when participating in class. I named this board “ZiXin” (自信) which means self-confidence in Chinese. The patterns were created based on graffiti images I took while studying abroad in China. The link to these patterns, their colorways, and inspiration is also on this website.

These pieces are for women who like their clothing to be simple, utilitarian, and trendy. These would use sweat wicking compression fabric and all looks would be bare back for when the workout gets intense. The jumpsuits are comfortable for the workout, then transform to everyday wear depending on how they are styled. They create a comfortable and loose-fitting feel but flatter the female figure.

For both jumpsuits, nothing is completely fitted or restricting. Both have a loose leg with an elastic band or stretchy ankle so that the legs can be rolled up or down. This prevents pant legs from falling up or down during complex poses. Neck, back, and waist enhancing cut outs provide ventilation to minimize sweating in these areas. The pattern additionally assists with hiding sweat. For jumpsuit one, the top can be unzipped and tied around the wearer’s waist for easy temperature or style change. On jumpsuit one, there is a v-shaped hip line. This keeps pants from falling down when the wearer has larger hips. That is one of the most annoying aspects of athletic leggings when trying to participate in yoga but pants require constant adjustment.

The sports bra acts similarly to the jumpsuits in breathability and temperature. The open back prevents discomfort from clasps or attachments as well as from sweating in that area. The front uses ties holding the bust covering pieces together to prevent discomfort or stress by the wearer to worry about her chest being revealed. The V-shape of the band around the ribs also keeps the sports bra in place preventing it from sliding up or down.

Yoga socks are often encouraged by instructors for participants who are older or have issues with their feet. I used similar shapes of yoga socks to create a new type of shoe. Modern shoes are responsible for weakening human feet and so I focused on a return to natural comfort by using as little padding and fabric coverage as possible. This shoe uses a soft, embroidered neoprene and will be easy to clean. It has velcro at the ankle and ball closures to allow for simple on and off as well as making the shoe adjustable to different proportioned feet. The bottom of the shoe only cradles the ball of the foot to allow for toe movement. The bottoms employs the use of a gripping rubber to prevent slipping and create a structure to the bottom of the shoe. This shoe is comfortable, minimizes sweating, and can be offered in different patterns and sweating.