We hate it when bad names happen to good people, like Engelbert Humperdinck or Bronx Mowgli (yep, Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz named their child that). Anyway, we get just as upset when a good product is given a bad name, and Nike’s latest patent is a miss on the name front. The idea itself, though? Pretty brilliant!
We’ve all been there: You finally talk yourself into going to the gym, you spend seven minutes on the treadmill and sweat starts dripping into your eyes. Unfortunately, you left your towel in the car, and it’s at this exact moment that you remind yourself why you never go to the gym in the first place. Nike’s new apparel product would change the sweat game. The patent shows how the company wants to create athletic apparel with, essentially, built-in towels for wiping away excess sweat.
WIPERS! 👏👏 @Nike's latest patent turns your workout clothes into towels… outlines plans to add what it calls “wipe zones” to traditional athletic garments. https://t.co/50MHyuIQ2b #sportsbiz pic.twitter.com/PrmcGIKcRc
— J.W. Cannon (@cannonjw) May 23, 2018
The apparel would feature areas made from different material than most athletic apparel, allowing wearers to wipe away perspiration. According to Digital Trends, the material would be made up of very fine fibers that can create a larger surface area thanks to the number of filaments in the fibers. As a result, the fabric can remove moisture from a person’s skin when wiped across the garment. The spots would also be made up hydrophobic materials so that the moisture wouldn’t be absorbed, but would evaporate.
It appears Nike is planning on placing these on the areas where people tend to wipe away perspiration, like the neck line on a shirt, the hem at the bottom of a shirt, and the front of shorts.
Smart, right? While this is clearly in its early stages, this seems like a game-changer in the athletic apparel market. But Nike might want to think about changing the name. As of now, the apparel company is calling the technology “wipe zones,” which, yikes.
We have a feeling the name would never make it to store shelves, but we just wish “wipe zones” would never be involved with the design process at any stage. It sounds more like a baby changing table than revolutionary apparel.
