Our high-performance athletic race wear with integrated protective fabrics 

Progression on protective race wear: now available for all cyclists 

Cycling clothing and protection seemed to be two different worlds until few years ago, when we (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) became the first professional cycling team to integrate protective fabrics into our race kit. Also in 2024, we Keep Challenging ourselves by improving materials and implementing these in more pieces of race wear, whilst making protective race wear available for amateur cyclists too.   

Crashes are an inevitable part of our sport, as are the wounds and abrasions that come with them. That wound recovery has impact on the optimal recovery between races or stages, and precious energy is wasted that can really make the difference out on the road. 

“The idea came in the mid 2010s when the team explored the idea of how we could minimise the risk of injuries and energy consumption for recovery after crashes during Grand Tours”, explained Team dsm-firmenich PostNL R&D expert Piet Rooijakkers. “We worked with dsm-firmenich already in the early years of this project, and in time we could finally integrate protective fibers into the bib shorts. This was a great step and one we are really proud of.” 

A quick analysis of the technical possibilities soon showed the team’s experts that it was not feasible to then integrate these protective fabrics in more types of specific high-performance race wear at speed, considering other key performance aspects (aerodynamics, lightweight, stretch, breathabilty) of race clothing for use at the highest level of elite sports. 

Piet explained why: “Using protective fibers in textiles is a challenge since it’s not suited for most textile processes. It is a unique material that enables protection in clothing in a crash, but it is very stiff, cannot be coloured, it is cut-resistant. The combination of different materials (elastic and printable) and the exact way of creating the fabrics is the secret to achieving the desired and race-specific properties in the kit.”  

“It’s also important to know the process of making textiles: threads are made from fibers, sheets are made out of thread, and panels are cut out of sheets. To get the protecitve fibers into sheets, it first needs to be twined into the thread, then later during the weaving, threads of other materials are added just to have the balance. It’s a complex process!” 

Partnership with Nalini 

The team then made the decision to step away from a traditional commercial model to faster integrate protective materials into more items of their race wear and it was the world’s most premium brand Nalini, who partnered with the team to work on the project. This means that our in-house R&D and Aerodynamics specialists now work together with Nalini’s state-of-the-art MOA Lab. This ensures that the development of a wider range of specific high-performance race wear can be accelerated and a few years ago, another huge step was made as the team launched its own high performance athletic race wear. Amazing news for the team! But to make this happen, some challenges had to be solved.  

“It was a really challenging process to integrate the protective fibers in such a high-performance kit. We basically had to reinvent every step in the production process of making professional race wear and come up with new solutions, whilst working with our new materials. The process has been adapted in all aspects from thread composition to the final seams in the kit”, Piet said. 

The protective sprint suit 

Later on, Team dsm-firmenich PostNL presented a new edition of their line of clothing. The Team dsm-firmenich PostNL science group, dsm-firmenich, and Nalini set a benchmark with their latest sprint suit in terms of aerodynamics and speed – faster and also protective! Impressive work from the team. The suit is another benchmark in terms of speed and is a huge step towards rider safety and protection in case of a crash. 

“It’s really nice to have protective fibers in our clothing because it has proven time and time again that it is really protective against crashes. In the Grand Tours if you fall, then it’s of course not nice, but with protective fibers, you have less abrasions through the fabric; that saves a lot more energy for the rest of the Grand Tour which you really need. It’s super nice to have come to this point in our process that so much is possible in terms of safety, but also speed”, said Team dsm-firmenich PostNL rider Chris Hamilton about the sprint suit. 

Piet explained the aerodynamic benefits of the sprint suit: “The baseline level in performance was for us to have protection at an aerodynamic level of a normal sprint suit. Testing it at the TU Delft wind tunnel showed us a surprising benefit of five watts, which gave us the energy to push the project into a final sprint and have it ready before the Vuelta. Although the protective panels might be a bit abrased after a crash, the riders are fully protected up to speeds of 45 km/h. Depending on impact, the skin might still be a bit scratched, but this material provides a serious reduction. Riders really rely on this in the races now.” 

Protective fibers for amateur cyclists  

So, what’s next? The team is working on the goal of integrating protective fibers into more and more products in our custom clothing line, whilst protective race clothing has been made available in the Nalini shop for amateur riders as well. Piet concludes: “For professional riders this protective race wear saves them energy otherwise spent on wound recovery, but for amateur riders it’s more for scars and being able to go to work the next day.”