Women runners and workout enthusiasts know all-too-well that shopping for sports bras isn’t as easy as shopping for those perfect leggings or yoga pants. And the larger the – ahem – bounce to one’s step, the harder it can be to find a bra that supports them perfectly when on the go.
But tech has found a way! A York-based firm founded in 2009 by three women, has created a high-tech solution to a very old problem.
Using sophisticated, computerized jacquard looms, vParadox, has developed 3D woven compression materials. Its first product will be a sports bra, expected to launch this fall, says partner Claire Corcoran. Also in the works are high-tech shapewear and a “load carriage product” named Marsupia that allows wearers to carry heavy items with minimal strain.
Partner Eva Osborne, an experienced textile engineer, invented a material in which compression, contraction and expansion can be controlled in any direction. Her “flash of genius,” as Corcoran calls it, came with the notion that jacquard looms – used for centuries to create decorative, textured fabrics – could be “engineered to create a utility product in three dimensions instead of pretty flowers.”
Corcoran handles sales, marketing and legal matters; the third partner is Patricia Snoke, who brings years of experience in textile manufacturing.
The trio has scored three patents, with a fourth pending. Now vParadox has lined up a Gettysburg marketing firm and is near agreements with mills in North Carolina and Pennsylvania to launch its still-to-be-named sports bra, “a no brainer for this technology.”
The company recently moved to York College’s J. D. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship. It also rents space at the nearby Patriot Tech Center, where it hopes to eventually set up a jacquard loom for further research and product development.
Source: Claire Corcoran, vParadox
Writer: Elise Vider
