Heist, the British brand celebrated for its revolutionary tights design, is bringing its signature innovation to shapewear with the launch of The Outer Body, a garment that promises to remove the struggle, sweat and squeezing typically associated with shapewear. The new product launch follows the appointment of Fiona Fairhurst, the inventor of the revolutionary, multi-gold-medal-winning FastSkin swimsuit, as VP Innovation earlier this year. Led by Fairhurst, Heist has applied technology never before used in underwear to create shapewear that – unlike the market’s incumbents – moves with the body, rather than against it.
Whereas existing shapewear is composed of elastomeric fabric that applies equal pressure around its circumference, The Outer Body uses revolutionary biomimetic film technology to mirror the body’s own support system. The result is shapewear that contours the stomach, without placing redundant and uncomfortable pressure on the groin and spine. The Outer Body design replaces layers of constrictive fabric with laser-perforated, ultrasonically-bonded panels, that allow a varied thickness of material to create strategically-placed zones of higher compression, while promoting breathability and eliminating bulky seams. As The Outer Body applies pressure only where needed, there is no struggle involved in putting it on.
Fiona Fairhurst, VP Innovation at Heist, said of the launch: “We wanted to give women freedom by giving them something better. While intimate apparel is the fastest growing market within apparel – with the shapewear market expected to reach $5.6 Billion by 2022 (5% of the global lingerie market) – there is very little catering to the comfort of women.”
Toby Darbyshire, Co-founder and CEO of Heist, said: “We asked 1,025 women who wear shapewear what they actually wanted from the product, and this disillusioned and dissatisfied group told us: no squeezing, sweating, or struggling into something that’s not worth it. So, we applied high-performing technology to our bodysuit from top to bottom. We set out on a mission to change the future of underwear and started with tights to prove a point – that women’s bodywear has been neglected, overlooking an important scientific and technological focus that it deserves. With this new launch, we have applied our philosophy of innovation and expert knowledge of the anatomy to a very specific product that has been crying out for an overhaul.”
