Athlentric- Curator – JDADA 2019

“When you have comfort and function combined with fashion it is difficult to go back to anything else on a regular basis.”

—- MARSHAL COHEN —-

Designer Niveen Bali’s collection, “Athlentric” is derived from the word Athleisure and Eccentric and is a line of Athleisure wear created using thermochromic pigments. The collection was inspired by the colour changing mugs that changed its colours when hot liquid was poured in the mug.

Thermochromic materials came into existence around the same time as the first digital watches. The thermochromic pigments changes colour due to the change in the crystal structure or molecular structure of the material. Since there is an emphasis on staying active and at the same time a need to wear clothes that are multi-functional, the designer has created a line of athleisure wear that is coated with thermochromic pigments. This provides a visual tool to indicate the change in body temperature post workout so that an individual is aware when to take a rest. However, only certain parts of the collection are coated with these pigments. This is a prime example of products becoming smarter due to the use of smart materials.

Smart materials also known as intelligent or responsive materials have one or more properties. These can be significantly changed in a controlled fashion by external stimuli, such as stress, temperature, moisture, pH, electric or magnetic fields, light, or chemical compounds.

The garments of the collection are created using cotton blend fabrics in colours like jet black, red orange, lemon yellow, sapphire blue and grey.