Enhanced Awareness
Proprioception is not a term often batted around in layman’s conversation, but it’s a concept you’re already familiar with. If you’ve ever thrown a ball to a friend without actually watching what your arm is doing, or closed your eyes and managed not to immediately fall over, you’ve experienced your proprioceptors at work.
“Proprioception — often referred to as your sixth sense — is your inherent awareness of your own movement and body position,” Chris Peploe, chief innovation officer of Exosuit, tells WSA. “Your skin, tendons and muscles contain receptors, known as proprioceptors, that send feedback to the brain about muscle and skin stretch, joint position, and ultimately movement.” It’s what allows our brain to control and coordinate movement, he says.
It’s also, he says, “potentially the most powerful and least understood benefit” of the EXO1 top.
EXO1 is the first product from Exosuit, a UK-based startup founded by Jamas Hodivala, a barrister and keen sportsman, and Mr Peploe, who holds a PhD in sports biomechanics and whose consulting experience includes work with the International Cricket Council and the England National Team.
The high-tech compression base layer has a range of features often associated with rehabilitation and physiotherapy, but Exosuit wants to see such technology being utilised preemptively. Increased muscle awareness (aka better proprioception), the company points out, is known to support good form, improve athletic performance and to help avoid potential injuries in the first place.
With a closer look at the top’s construction, the science behind it and the company’s goals, it becomes clear why the founders feel their concept will eventually transform people’s ideas about the way clothing interacts with the body.
More than a compression baselayer
The idea for the EXO1 originated in June 2012, when Mr Hodivala had the idea for an alternative to daily kinesiology taping that was helping him cope with shoulder injuries. Used over specific joints and muscles, the tape provided support and stability needed to participate in sports — but it was time consuming and impossible for him to apply to himself. Surely, he thought to himself standing in a London physio room, he could combine the benefits of kinesiology tape with a garment he could wear.
The next few years were spent on forming a company and building a product. Mr Hodivala linked up with Mr Peploe, the two worked with textile design consultancy Thread Design on prototype development and proof of concept, a patent was granted in 2018, and the inaugural top launched in May of last year.
“Compression” and “baselayer” don’t adequately capture the complexity of the EXO1, though. The resulting top does indeed incorporate kinesiology tape concepts into clothing, says Mr Peploe, as it combines compression with “integrated flexible structures that in some way mimic k-tape to support or enhance awareness around a specific joint or muscle group”.
But its most impactful components go beyond that; this is where the proprioception comes in. The top is designed with silicone panels that gently grip skin at anatomically-important sites, raising the wearer’s awareness of muscle activation and joint orientation. That interaction “provides stronger proprioceptive cues to the brain regarding skin stretch and limb position”, says Mr Peploe. “Imagine shutting your eyes and someone pinching your wrist. You immediately become more acutely aware of where that wrist is in space and what’s happening to it. This is in principle what the EXO1 is doing.”
The enhanced feedback makes the wearer more aware of specific muscles being activated and of one’s posture and positioning. “Better proprioception is strongly linked to both increased performance and reduced risk of injury amongst athletes,” he says. While ultimately training is the best way to improve proprioception, a garment like this can “improve awareness and build confidence in your body to train and play harder”.
The silicone panels form part of the company’s patented PowerFlex Technology, which applies flexible support over the shoulders and upper back, providing stability for muscles and joints during exercise. Adhesive cuffs keep the top in place, the cut and integrated flexible structure (made with a laser-cut PES/EAA blend) are said to support key muscles, joints and dynamic posture where it’s most needed, and the garment’s compression brings the benefits of improved blood flow, faster waste removal and reduced muscle vibration.
EXO1 is constructed with two Renew performance fabrics from Carvico’s Jersey Lomellina, both of which are made with Econyl regenerated nylon fibre. The top’s upper section is made with the heavier Renew Prime, which Mr Peploe says provides “the necessary shape retention, two-way stretch and power to achieve the desired compression and supportive performance”. The lower section is made from the lighter Renew Style fabric, chosen for its breathability and quick-drying properties.
As for the original idea of blending kinesiology tape and apparel, there are now several relatively new products from other brands out there built around the same concept, so Mr Peploe is quick to distinguish Exosuit from the others.
One difference, he says, is the use of Exosuit’s silicone panels as opposed to products that adhere to skin along its length. “This allows us to target specific joints and muscle groups, while removing the inconvenience and discomfort associated with full-length adherence.” (This means those with hairy limbs don’t have to fret.)
Another is that other brands rely on elastane-based materials with different weights and levels of stretch sewn as panels into the garment, whereas Exosuit garments integrate flexible support into the entire compression garment, forming a dual-layer structure. “This method allows us to maintain the integrity of the full garment, with fewer seams,” he says, “and leaves greater scope to optimise the placement and materials used in each section.”
Performance over physio
Mr Peploe says Exosuit is “athlete-led, targeting sports performance and real problems experienced by real athletes”, whereas many products in this space are focused on recovery or rehabilitation.
That’s why “our athlete ambassadors are a huge part of what Exosuit is about,” says Mr Peploe. He describes the company as “designing and developing products to solve real problems experienced by both athletes competing at the highest level and those of us playing amateur sport”.
Cricketer Ben Charlesworth has said the top, “improves my posture threefold, allowing me to maintain control over my performances and training"; UK fencer Matt Cooper has said the top “allows you to connect with your movements and improve your posture and technique when fencing"; and rugby player Antonio Kiri Kiri has said the top gives good support around the shoulders and “makes me aware of my posture and muscle positioning".
As a start-up introducing new ideas about support and proprioception to the world, testimonials from professional athletes like these are a major part of how Exosuit is trying to turn its ideas mainstream. Social media is dotted with images of the athletes wearing the top alongside posts and hashtags celebrating how it has improved their performance.
Mr Peploe emphasises that the brand doesn’t pay “a big name athlete” to endorse the products if the athlete doesn’t actively use and benefit from them. There are currently 18 professional athletes across five different sports actively wearing and endorsing the top.
“We rely on our athletes to spread the word and give the brand credibility, building social proof around the benefits of our products, and working with us on development and testing,” he says. “These athletes are free to express their honest and authentic opinions about the products, we never put words in their mouth or tell them what we expect them to say, which hopefully breeds trust and a level of openness to our customers.”
Beyond sports (and men)
Currently, the compression top is Exosuit’s only available product. Next in the pipeline is a unisex arm or elbow sleeve that Exosuit has been working on, as well as a piece of cricket-specific protective equipment the company is developing in collaboration with UK-based sports design company Ayrtek Cricket.
Mr Peploe says they also plan to develop full-body coverage, including a long sleeve top, shorts and leggings. He expects to eventually see Exosuit principles applied not only to sports, but more medical and recovery products, those suffering mobility issues, general labour or practical tasks, or military and space applications.
“This technology and concept is something we believe is applicable across the whole body, and can provide benefits to a huge number of people,” he says. “The dual-layer structure of our garments lends itself to exploring integrated and wearable technology,” he says, “which is something that excites us for the future of the company.”
Notably, the EXO1 is designed specifically for men and there is not yet a female alternative. Mr Peploe says this is not for lack of trying.
“We have experimented with an EXO1 for women,” he says, “although we found a number of issues in directly translating the technology and interaction with the body to the female anatomy, namely the inherently different shape of the female form and the fact most women exercise in a sports bra.”
Exosuit is continuing to work on creating female products, and “a number of our future developments are likely to translate much better, but this is a little way off at this stage.”
Ultimately, the founders hope, enhanced proprioception and the top’s other benefits will be available to anyone for any number of purposes. “Exosuit is a concept, not any one individual product,” the company’s mission statement says. “Our work together is going to change people’s expectations of how clothing interacts with the human body.”
Ethos and expansion
That mission statement, titled “Our Core Values and Philosophy”, was written early on by Mr Hodivala and also makes a commitment to “modern ethical values”. The piece says Exosuit will only use supply chains that provide workers a fair wage and adequate working conditions; always act “honestly and with integrity in all our dealings”; not seek to evade taxes, associate with modern slavery, corruption or bribery; understand and work to reduce its own carbon footprint; and strive to use renewable or recycled materials. (On that last point, Exosuit intends to continue using Econyl nylon, which is regenerated from fishnets and other nylon waste, on future garments.)
This is how the company wants to grow, and the founders are already seeing the EXO1 concept reach well beyond its home base of England.
Exosuit was recently selected from more than 1000 applicants to participate in Hype Sports Innovation’s Global Virtual Accelerator, a three-month program of webinars and targeted guidance, giving the company access to experts, mentors and other valuable contacts. Mr Peploe says the company gained useful business contacts as well as interesting links to manufacturers in Asia which they are exploring.
As of now, Exosuit is stocked in six independent retailers in the south of England and is exploring partnerships with bigger brands and a national retailer. The company recently made its deal with an overseas retailer in Melbourne, Australia, and Mr Peploe says they’re holding discussions regarding licensing and distribution agreements in the US and the Middle East.
“Our products and concept are particularly suited to team sports played in the US and Australia,” says Mr Peploe, “so we see those regions as big growth markets for us to tackle moving forwards.”
Cultivating growth in this wide range of markets is a vital early step in the brand being “an important part of everyday life throughout the world” — another of the mission statement’s goals.
“We believe clothing should do more than just cover your skin,” says Mr Peploe. “We don’t know what the future has in store for the company’s development, but if we can go towards changing that expectation of clothing, we’ll be pretty happy.”
