UYN, the Italian sportswear brand, has unveiled its pioneering research and development laboratory – AREAS – an advanced facility for product and athlete testing and an academy for innovation in technical apparel.
AREAS – the Academy for Research and Engineering in Apparel and Sport – is a 3500 square metre structure of two storeys located in Asola (Mantua Province, Italy), within the headquarters of Trerè Innovation, the company that owns and produces the UYN brand. This modern building is home to the company’s new research and development laboratory, an academy for scholars and young talents in the textile field, and a creative hub for product and communication design.
The unveiling was attended by representatives of several national ski teams, including from Italy, Austria, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Spain, as well UYN ambassadors including the founder of freerunning Sébastien Foucan, world record holding ultra-runner Paolo Venturini, and ultra-cyclist Omar De Felice who also announced his fresh attempt to cycle coast-to-coast in Antarctica in November supported by UYN®.
Marco Redini, CEO of Trere Innovation, believes that the new AREAS centre welcomes in a new exciting era in technical sportswear that builds on their innovative foundations and will help usher in the next generation of leading scientists and technicians in this area.
He said: “AREAS is born out of a dream, that of founding the most advanced research academy in the world in the technical apparel sector. We wanted to create not only a physical space, but an idea space that would allow the convergence of multiple fields of knowledge: from science to design, from communication to art. From the meeting of this knowledge comes a powerful drive towards innovation. This allows AREAS to be the laboratory in which we build the future, in which we design what does not yet exist.”
Resulting from an investment of more than 2 million euros, AREAS is a pioneering laboratory for research into bio-materials and advanced textile structures, for analysing the performance of products and athletes using state-of-the-art scientific equipment.
The scientific equipment on show at the laboratory includes a climate chamber (with controlled temperature and humidity), neuro-reactive treadmills developed by the Italian company Reaxing, a TITICI bike station with oscillating platforms, and the thermal manikin Hyper – a human-like robot capable of reproducing the physiological reactions of the human body thanks to 35 independent thermal zones.
The research and testing carried out at AREAS is done so in collaboration with the CeRiSM (Research Centre ‘Sport, Mountain and Health’) of the University of Verona, the fourth ranked sports science department in the world according to the Global Shanghai Ranking.
In a move not normally seen in this secretive industry, Trerè Innovation has chosen to make AREAS a place open to everyone. Not only industry professionals and specialised media, but anyone who wishes can book a tour of AREAS at uynsports.com or areas-academy.com.
The tour is structured with interactive experiences that allow visitors to test UYN products and AREAS scientific devices, interact with technicians, designers, engineers and immerse themselves in the UYN world. Visits also include Trerè Innovation’s production department, showrooms, logistics with the robotised warehouse and the UYN Flagship Store in Asola.
