2024.04.15
Exploring the Appeal of New Products Born at DISC OSAKA, the Heart of DESCENTE's Manufacturing
With the concept of 'creating the world's fastest wear', DESCENTE LTD.'s sports apparel research and development are conducted at 'DISC (DESCENTE INNOVATION STUDIO COMPLEX) OSAKA'. I had the opportunity to visit DISC in March of this year.
I was curious to know what kind of facilities were available at this core facility of DESCENTE and what kind of research and development was being carried out. This time, while touring the facility, I spoke with Gota Tani and Takahiro Hirano, who are in charge of product development for DESCENTE's PRO and TRAINING categories.
DISC OSAKA Filled to the Brim with DESCENTE's Technology
DISC OSAKA is a development facility equipped with the latest sewing machines and 3D printers.In addition to laboratories where motion analysis and environmental testing can be conducted, the facility is equipped with advanced equipment and environments aimed at enhancing the functionality and performance of sports apparel, such as a motion capture room that can analyze athletes' movements, a body scanner that can 3D scan athletes' bodies, and a sample production line that can make prototypes in a short period of time.
At DISC, they also perform motion analysis and need assessment of professional athletes, aiming for more user-friendly and functional product development.
The Attraction of PRO & TRAINING's New Products
From here we talk to Gota Tani, who is in charge of PRO, and Takahiro Hirano, who is in charge of TRAINING, about new products that have been on sale since March of this year.
Please tell us about how you started the PRO series.
TaniOur company has been creating for athletes for over 80 years. However, in order to convey this technology to general customers as well, we decided to launch a symbolic group of products as DESCENTE's sports line.
Specifically, we introduce cutting-edge technologies developed at DISC into products in the PRO series, and then apply these technologies to other categories such as training lines. We believe that by using PRO as a starting point, we can elevate the image of DESCENTE's overall sports brand.
What difficulties did you encounter in the development process?
Tani'Schematech®SOLAR BLOCK' and 'Schematech® AERO', products of PRO series, both use a material adopted from a technology we developed in-house called Schematech®.
Schematech® is a coined term combining 'Schema' and 'Technology'. The concept is to adopt special weaving and knitting structures within a single fabric, enabling the addition and alteration of functionalities regionally without switching fabrics.
With this unique technology, we minimize the number of sewing points and without hindering the stretchability of the fabric, we combine it with DESCENTE's unique pattern technologies studied from human movements and body's mechanisms, thereby achieving comfort, high mobility, and high functionality.
In the development of Schematech®, there were first the ideas for embodying the intent and concept in design. This was followed by a secondary development process of how to shape this concept.
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