Reinventing Women's Pants
The launch of the women’s Kinetic pant marks the second generation of our women’s pant. We believe iterative design is critical to the evolution of our products and we viewed the launch of the women's Kinetic pant as an opportunity to rethink, re-engineer, and refit our women's pants from the ground up.
We used 3D modeling and strain analysis to optimize the Kinetic Pants for motion.
OPPORTUNITY ANALYSIS
Over the first year since launching Structure Your Day, the feedback from our customers revealed a number of opportunities for improvement.
1. Rise & Hip Shape:
Our rise shape was causing compression and whiskering at the crotch and didn't move with the body while seated.
2. Lower Profile Pockets:
Pockets have a tendency to flare out, and rear pocket bags are often visible. Alternatively, functional pockets are omitted altogether.
3. Seeking a low-sheen fabric:
While the Structure Your Day material offered high performance, it had a slight sheen which hampered its perceived professionalism.
A comparison of our newest Kinetic pants and our previous generation Structure Your Day pants.
SELECTING THE KINETIC FABRIC:
When looking at fabric options for the new women's Kinetic pant, we realized that the Kinetic fabric of our flagship men's pant was equally viable for a women's product, improved all aspects of the Structure Your Day material. Kinetic has an incredible degree of omnidirectional stretch without losing shape in the seat or knees after extensive wear, thanks to spiral-shaped yarns. Additionally, Kinetic fabric has a more matte hand an appearance as it naturally refracts light, rather than reflect it.
The Kinetic Fabric is high-density Japanese warp-knit fabric that has the structure of a woven and the stretch of a knit. There are over 4000 yarns that the make width of the fabric.
The Kinetic fiber has a spiral, spring-like shape that gives it inherent resilience - this allows it to stretch and always bounce back to its original shape.
FIT RESEARCH:
We scoured reviews for pants in our customers' closets already to understand those that are renowned for their fit and brought them in for fittings to see the stylistic differences.
Some photos from our fit analysis of customers' favorite pants to understand how the Kinetic should lay.
Comprehensive quantitative measurement analysis of blocks: We compared the same size pant across board and MoS SYD pants.
A visualization of pant fit profiles allows us to quantitatively compare what creates a "great fit" based on customer feedback.
Fit visualization to quantitatively compare key points of measurement: To determine our fit reference - we plotted the key points of measurement for the various garments to determine which offered a fit that matched our qualitative aesthetic but also fit range.
ENGINEERING THE PATTERN:
We began an iterative process of physical and digital patterning to understand how to create a pant that looked great statically while standing, but was incredibly comfortable in motion.
CAD patterns for the initial pant fit for digital fit and strain analysis.
The "V" shaped side Comfort Panel allows us to optimally orient stretch of the pants in the direction of major stretch. The red zones indicate panels which are stretching the most.
The Comfort Panel allows the pant to adapt to the body through a walking stride.
We looked at both dynamic movement and static sitting to understand how fabric stretches and compresses around the waist.
A Stretch Waistband works in concert with the Comfort Panel to release compression while sitting.
Ergonomic seamlines contour the leg limiting contact in high compression areas, and create a slimming silhouette.
A 3D seamline analysis with a rendering of the pant to ensure a clean aesthetic.
KINETIC AN EVOLUTION OF THE STRUCTURE YOUR DAY PANT:
The new Women's Kinetic Pant (Left) and previous generation Structure Your Day Pant (Right).
FIT:
The Women's Kinetic Pants are available in two great fits currently - a Slim and Skinny fit. Here's how they compare:
STYLE:
The Slim and Skinny fit pants share the same core functionality and benefits but have nuances in styling and details. Here's how they compare:
