{"id":23340,"date":"2023-03-30T13:35:01","date_gmt":"2023-03-30T13:35:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/30\/nike-introduces-leak-proof-gear-ahead-of-womens-world-cup-equalizer-soccer\/"},"modified":"2023-03-30T13:35:01","modified_gmt":"2023-03-30T13:35:01","slug":"nike-introduces-leak-proof-gear-ahead-of-womens-world-cup-equalizer-soccer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/30\/nike-introduces-leak-proof-gear-ahead-of-womens-world-cup-equalizer-soccer\/","title":{"rendered":"Nike introduces leak-proof gear ahead of Women\u2019s World Cup \u2013 Equalizer Soccer"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto: Nike<\/span><\/p>\n

On Thursday, Nike introduced new leak-proof technology meant to give athletes more comfort when competing during their period. The technology will be offered as a base layer to all 13 national teams that wear Nike and are competing at this year\u2019s Women\u2019s World Cup.<\/p>\n

Crucially, the technology will be available to the masses through retail beginning Saturday. The goal, senior apparel innovation project manager Lisa Gibson tells The Equalizer<\/em>, is to combat what Nike calls \u201cthe dropout formula\u201d that sees girls dropping out of sports at twice the rate of boys by age 14. That does not happen exclusively because of menstruation, she says, but they know it to be a factor.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to create a product that would keep people in sport and also just give people peace of mind while they\u2019re playing their sport, engaging in that movement,\u201d said Gibson, who competed for Great Britain\u2019s water polo team at the 2012 London Olympics.<\/p>\n

The World Cup will serve as grand debut for the technology at an inflection point in the movement toward more player comfort. Last year, England\u2019s women\u2019s players expressed a desire for the team to stop wearing white shorts over menstruation concerns; Nike is England\u2019s uniform supplier. The U.S. is expected to wear blue shorts with its white jersey tops as much as possible, The Equalizer<\/em> previously reported.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

In the National Women\u2019s Soccer League, the Orlando Pride recently changed its all-white kit to black shorts after hearing concerns from players<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Want even more women\u2019s sports coverage?<\/h2>\n

Readers of The Equalizer <\/em>can now save 50%<\/strong> on their subscription to our partner publication, The IX<\/em>. Delivered six days a week, The IX <\/em>will help you catch up on the latest headlines in women\u2019s soccer, tennis, basketball, golf, hockey and gymnastics. <\/p>\n

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FIFA\u2019s detailed rules about uniforms require players to wear matching colored underwear if the base layer is at all visible. That has been a particular problem for white shorts. Gibson says the Nike Pro Short, which serves as a base layer, will be available to Nike-sponsored teams in the necessary colors to match their World Cup uniforms.<\/p>\n

Gibson says the product line, called \u201cNike Leak Protection: Period,\u201d arrives after four years of development that included 20 iterations of materials and 30 rounds of prototypes \u201cso that it really moves in synergy with your body.\u201d Nike\u2019s various technology teams designed a two-layer system in which the top layer next to the skin wicks and absorbs fluid, and the second layer is a membrane that acts as a barrier to leaks. They purposefully used synthetic blood rather than water in testing, and the final material has been tested on \u201chundreds of athletes for thousands of hours including football players.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Increasingly, players globally have called for more comfort and protection when competing during menstruation. Gear manufacturers are beginning to reply. Puma recently changed Manchester City\u2019s women\u2019s team\u2019s white shorts for a maroon color following player concerns, and the brand plans to stop producing white shorts entirely for women\u2019s teams beginning with the 2023-24 European season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is simply no sporting or competitive reason for white shorts,\u201d NWSL Players Association executive director Meghann Burke told\u00a0The Equalizer<\/em>\u00a0recently. \u201cYou\u2019ve heard loud and clear from players why it\u2019s so important for our sport and league to adopt this easy fix. I can recall this being an issue that my U12\/13 teams talked about as a kid, so it\u2019s not a \u2018new\u2019 issue by any stretch. I\u2019m just glad to see common sense can finally prevail on this issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

FIFA is yet to specifically respond to concerns about white shorts. A spokesperson for the global governing body noted that white uniforms are not required. Per FIFA regulations, teams must have a dark uniform and a light-colored uniform.<\/p>\n

Soccer is leading the movement for change, and the World Cup offers another platform for normalizing discussion about menstruation and improving standards around player comfort.<\/p>\n

Gibson was an elite world athlete in water polo, but she sees the broader impact this could have not just on professional athletes, but every athlete at any age, any level.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think back to when I was a teenager, and how much this would have changed my life and my engagement with sport at a young age,\u201d she said. \u201cJust having that reassurance and not being distracted and worried about bleed through, knowing that I can go and play my game and I don\u2019t need to be worried, because Nike\u2019s got my back.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo: Nike On Thursday, Nike introduced new leak-proof technology meant to give athletes more comfort when competing during their period. The technology will be offered as a base layer to all 13 national teams that wear Nike and are competing at this year\u2019s Women\u2019s World Cup. Crucially, the technology will be available to the masses […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23341,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6805],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-23340","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-womens"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23340\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}