Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Competitive
SWIMSUITS
(Part - 3)
4. Diana Swimwear 2008 Plasma through radio frequency that permits the
The Submarine Shining Arrow is the 4th generation of alteration of the superficial feature of the fabric,
the Submarine range and the result of 100 per cent rendering it more waterproof and smooth.
Italian project: Research and product development, The process consists in the ionization of gaseous
materials and production are all made in Italy. It is products, in a vacuum and to ambient temperature,
first swimming bodysuit with no seams and by radio frequency electric discharges. The original
manufactured with thermo fusion technology and with chemical bonds of the fabric, placed in the process
cold plasma treated fabric. room, are broken and a particular procedure makes
4.1: Fabric possible the change of the fabrics functional
properties, rendering it waterproof.
New fabric SPF (Stretch Polimix Fabric) has been
realised in full compliance of new Fina rules, the fabric This Plasma Super Slick fabric, with a flat and linear
is made by a polyurethane elastic yarn. The advantages structure, also having a minimal thickness and
are obvious in terms of water slides and compression. inimitable lightness compared to fabrics used by other
For the first time in the world Diana has created a brands, is extremely compressed leaving an effective
competition swimsuit using a hydrophobic fabric while force to the tension of the fabric.
the interior has a water repellent treatment. Vega
Submarines have been created assembling only two By means of this pressure, adapted and differentiated
pieces of fabric, which is strong reduction of dynamic for every part of the body, a contoured levelling of the
friction and consequently a better water slide. bodily shapes is obtained, allowing the maximization
of the athletic effort.
4.2: Muscle compression
Other substantial innovation of the new Submarine,
Fixed in strategic positions the Glass-Tex fabric
regards the assemblage of the fabric. The new
enhance the muscular compression that decrease
Submarines are manufactured with the exclusive
the athlete lactic acid production for better
technology “Thermofusion,” that it consists in the
performances. In order to increase compression there
use of particular machinery, that concur, with one
is a double layer of fabric in the part under chest.
complicated procedure, the fusion of two fabrics (with
4.3: Better balance the use of high temperature 180°C) eliminating
Primary importance has been given to the balance of therefore the use of seams in the suits assembly.
the swimmer, at its centre of mass position and its In this way it comes completely eliminated the friction
freedom of movement using the Thermo fusion generated by the seams, reducing enormously the
technology that allows the assemblage of the suit small vortices that prevent the normal sliding of the
eliminating the use of seams. This gives the perfect water flows that lap the athlete’s body during the
fit at crotch area thanks to inguinal seams. swim.
The Diana Submarine competition suit series, takes With this new technology, comes the reduced
advantage from the research and the technology of resistance to the advance of the suit surface and
submarines, in the phase of silent propulsion, thanks increases the effectiveness of the performance.
to the co-efficient of penetration in water and to the
special slipperiness of their hulls. Another technical feature on the new Submarine is
the employment of the “Silver Adhesive Film,” a
4.4: Thermo-fusion technical specifications special film with a self-regulating tension, obtained
The new Submarine series is manufactured with the from the silver fibre, which prevents the action of
new Plasma Super Slick fabric with more than three water penetration in the upper part of the suit,
years of studies and tests. This Plasma Super Slick diminishing therefore considerably the pressure
fabric is treated with a reactive procedure with Cold feeling on the shoulders during the stroke.
Hydro-repellent
Incredibly fast
Top speed
Unbeatable
freedom of
Perfect muscle Improved
movement around
pressure sliding
the knee zone
Fig 19: Powerskin R-Evolution
Ultra-light
Fig 18: Powerskin X-Treme It delivers up to 20 per cent less drag than the
powerskin x-treme, due to the elimination of all seams
5.2: Powerskin R-Evolution orthogonal to water flow. The revolutionary
It is the lightest and the smoothest racing swimsuit. construction with zero seams on the front enables
Fig 17: Powerskin by arenas This is made possible by the incredible lightness of the swimmers to keep peak speed for a 24 per cent
5.1: Arena X-Glide the Exclusive Arena Stealth Fabric. 99/sqm delivering longer time, delivering potential advantage of 54
Arena X-Glide is a swimsuit made of pure a 50 per cent stronger muscle compression and hundredths of a second in a 50m free style
polyurethane that causes a swimmer to slide through enhancing better body balancing and stability during competition.
water faster when swimming. The design of the suit the swimming action.
covers basically the whole torso and the legs, thereby • 99/SQM =the lightest fabric ever used in a top
exposing less skin to the water. This significantly competition suit
reduces the drag a swimmer experiences as he or
she moves through the water. • Thermo-fused joins strategically placed
Powerskin Xtreme® exclusive “Balancing System,” • Ultra flat and waterproof zipper
obtained by using a second silver fabric, allows a perfect • One piece of fabric
muscle compression, while the special ergonomic
panels create unbeatable freedom of movement on • Zero Seams on the front
the knee zone. Three fabrics perfectly working together • 100 per cent stitch less Fig 19: Special coating on Arena R-Evolution +
to fulfil the top swimmers’ main needs.
Conclusion
Engineered Swimsuit is believed to play an important role in swimmer’s performance. It is every swimmers dream to be the best, the sleekest, and the fastest.
Swimming is the sport of endurance, discipline and technique; swimmers rely on all of these resources and qualities to reach the goal of utmost importance – Speed!
In a nutshell, the objective of competitive swimming is to fight for the fastest possible personnel time. In order to achieve this all important goal swimmers must hone
their technique and find the ways of making themselves as fast as possible. In competitive swimming it is usually a very short winning time margins that often requires
the help of advanced technology to determine the time difference between the winner and loser. And ways that swimmers and coaches alike have found to be useful
in reducing time is wearing fast suits
(By Vasant R. Kothari, Assistant Professor, Department of Fashion Technology,
NIFT, Bangalore, Neha Goyal & Megha Sheoran, MFTech, NIFT, Bangalore)