IOSR Journal of Sports and Physical Education (IOSR-JSPE) e-ISSN: 2347-6737, p-ISSN: 2347-6745, Volume 6, Issue 6, (Nov. –Dec. 2019), PP 06-12 www.iosrjournals.org DOI: 10.9790/6737-06060612 www.iosrjournals.org 6 | Page Development of High Performance Inner Wear for Karate Players D.S.Pothupitiya, C.P.Vithanage Department of Textile & Clothing Technology, Faculty of Engineering University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka Corresponding Author: C.P.Vithanage Abstract: Karate is a one of the most participated sport in the world. It has rich history tracing back to china and India. Since starting time of karate, karate players wear “Traditional karate uniform” which is called “karate GI”. Today, with the improvement of technology, most of the sports such as cycling, swimming, rugby, athletic etc, are considered in improving the functionalities of relevant sport wear in order to enhance the player’s performances. However, according to World karate federation, the outer appearance of ka rate GI could not be changed. Therefore, the only option in improving player’s performance through the uniform is introducing an innerwear which provides good support to the body muscles according to their special movements. Therefore, the objectives of this research were to identifying the requirements of karate players and explore the possibility of introducing an inner garment combined with compression technology and karate safe guards. Through interviews with karate players and instructors, the issues in karate GI was identified and the technological advancement in textile and fashion industry was explored in order to do experiments on developing a inner garment for karate players. This will be a knowledge source for product developers to produce a high performance wear for karate players, which will be a great investment for a great future of karate. Key words: Karate, High Performance wear, Safe Guards --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date of Submission: 26-10-2019 Date of Acceptance: 11-11-2019 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. Introduction Background of the study According to the World Karate Federation, Karate is a highly participated sport where there are 100 million practitioners around the world. Karate can be practiced as an art, self defense or as a combat sport. While traditional karate aims at self-development, modern Japanese style training emphasizes the psychological elements such as perseverance, fearlessness, virtue and leadership skills. Sport karate is mainly aimed for exercise and competition and blocking, kicking, punching and take downs are the primary tools that used in karate [1]. Since starting time of karate, karate players wear “Traditional karate uniform” which is called as “karate GI”. The upper garment of karate GI has long sleeve up to wrist level and pant length to anklebone level which are not body fitted and also not focusing on providing any muscle support to the player [2]. Today, with the improvement of technology, most of the sports such as cycling, swimming, rugby, athletic etc, are considered in improving the functionalities of relevant sport wear in order to enhance the player ’s performances. However, according to World karate federation, the outer appearance of karate GI could not be changed. Therefore, the only option in improving player’s performance through the uniform is introducing an innerwear which provides good support to the body muscles according to their special movements. Garments for a particular sport are developed considering specialized requirements of the player’s working muscle groups related to their movements and the requirements of relevant sport. Karate player’s requirements are different from other sports, therefore, a thorough study of karate sport need to be done in order to develop specialized inner garment for karate players. Further, through the interviews, it was found that the Karate players who need to wear some safe guards additional to the Karate GI, such as Mitts (gloves), Gum shield, Chest guard, Shin pads, Foot protection guard and Groin guard (Fig 1) are not comfortable to the player.