Consumer Product Development
Spotlight
Company: Under Armour
Industry: Sports Aparrel
HQ: Baltimore, Maryland
Webpage:
Under Armour® (NYSE: UA) is a leading developer, marketer, and distributor of branded performance apparel, footwear, and accessories. The brand’s moisture-wicking synthetic fabrications are engineered in many different designs and styles for wear in nearly every climate to provide a performance alternative to traditional natural fiber products. The company’s products are sold worldwide and worn by athletes at all levels, from youth to professional, on playing fields around the globe.
Product/Project Highlights
Anti-Fatigue Mouth Guard System
Client: Under Armor
- Increases blood flow to the brain, increasing endurance
- 3 shot moulded part with no straight or planer surfaces
- Each of the 3 shot section needed to be individually modelled in CAD
Situation:
The idea for the endurance increasing product came from a dentist who brought the idea to Bit Tech, Inc. ArmourBite, the patented technology in Under Armour Performance Mouthwear, was created by Under Armour’s licensee Bite Tech, Inc., a Minneapolis-based company that has spent over 15 years conducting research and science on developing products that improve athletic performance. New research published in the Journal of the American Dental Association finds that wearing an ArmourBite mouthpiece improves endurance, exercise intensity and recovery. The study, led by Dr. Dena Garner, head of the Department of Heath, Exercise and Sports Science at The Citadel, showed that participants wearing an ArmourBite Mouthpiece during steady state exercise experienced significant improvements in their oxygen and carbon dioxide exchanges. Specifically, the participants wearing ArmourBite took in 29% more oxygen, while expelling 21% more carbon dioxide than the subjects not wearing the mouthpiece.
Anti-Fatigue Mouth Guard System
Client: Under Armor
Process:
Working with the selected plastic injection moulder, Solid starting by gathering requirements for the moulding process. We colaborated closely with the contracted Industrial Designer to develop a startegy for meeting the design intent, the strength/structural requirements and the demands of multiple shot moulding all at the same time. This required many upfront meeting with all of the key stackholders before detailed CAD modeling could begin.
Solution:
Using advanced surface modeling techniques Solid was able to create the required CAD models of the 3 shot moulded product. This is moulded using 3 different plastics to create the physical structure needed for the performance of the mouthgurard system. “Athletes are always looking for that extra edge to raise their level of performance while training or in competition and ArmourBite products do just that,” said Edward Giard, Under Armour Vice President, Licensing and Accessories. “Some of the best athletes in the world use this technology and now athletes of all ages and skill levels have an opportunity to experience the individual benefits of the product.”
