Italian brand's sports-optimised clothing made using castor beans and sugar cane
Chris Froome sports the UYN baselayer beneath his Israel Start-Up Nation team jersey(Image credit: UYN)
Israel Start-Up Nation has today partnered with UYN — Unleash Your Nature — the Italian brand that produces sports-optimised technical sportswear from baselayers to recovery-oriented socks and Merino wool shoes. The new partnership will see four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome, alongside champion teammates Andre Greipel, Daniel Martin, Sep Vanmarcke, Michael Woods and Alex Dowsett, sporting high-performance base layers made from castor beans during races.
“We are very excited to join forces with UYN,” says Israel Start-Up Nation General Manager Kjell Carlström. “In professional sport, any edge you can get is important and we truly believe that this partnership will benefit the team greatly this year with UYN’s technologically advanced base layers, socks and footwear.”
The key pieces the team will be wearing include baselayers from UYN’s Energyon and Motyon ranges. These are both made with Natex, a completely natural fibre obtained from castor beans, which is claimed to dry 50 per cent faster than traditional petroleum-derived nylon, as well as being 25 per cent lighter. The resulting baselayers are designed to rapidly wick away sweat and keep athletes feeling comfortable throughout their race.
As a company that focuses on innovation, UYN has developed its Flowtunnels system, which combines micro-holes with three-dimensional channels to provide increased airflow between the fabric and the skin. This is claimed to result in greater cooling.
Another way UYN will support Froome and his teammates is via its Cycling Light socks, which according to UYN, contain an asymmetrical elastic structure alongside its proprietary Cool Air Flow technology to promote good blood circulation and ventilation.
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Alexander Cataford relaxes in UYN's socks and merino wool shoes, designed to aid recovery (Image credit: UYN)
For the post-race period, the brand’s X-Cross shoes promise support and comfort to aid in recovery. Constructed from a one-piece upper made from merino wool that wraps around the foot, the shoes promise thermoregulation and anti-odour properties as you’d expect to find with merino. The sole features a sugar cane insert, which is said to result in a high-performance foam that is lightweight, responsive, and specifically designed for post-race recovery.
UYN launched back in 2018 and its main focus is technical sportswear that supports athletes in achieving their potential. All of its wares are manufactured entirely in Asola, Italy, and it collaborates with some of the world’s best athletes to develop functional sportswear. The brand found its feet in skiing but is now branching out into cycling.
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Marco Redini, CEO of UYN, said: “After our success in winter sports, we are ready to play a leading role at the highest level of professional cycling too. The partnership with the Israel Start-Up Nation team is not a point of arrival for UYN, but rather an opportunity to develop the highest performing and technically advanced products thanks to the feedback from the best cyclists in the world.”
Mildred joined as Reviews Writer for Cyclingnews and BikePerfect in December 2020. She loves all forms of cycling from long-distance audax to daily errand-running by bike, and does almost everything on two wheels, including moving house, and started out her cycling career working in a bike shop. For the past five years she's volunteered at The Bristol Bike Project as a mechanic and session coordinator, and now sits on its board of directors.
Since then she's gone on to write for a multitude of cycling publications, including Bikeradar, Cycling Plus, Singletrack, Red Bull, Cycling UK and Total Women's Cycling. She's dedicated to providing more coverage of women's specific cycling tech, elevating under-represented voices in the sport, and making cycling more accessible overall.
