Under Armour says its ridiculously expensive pajamas will help athletes sleep better
LAS VEGAS — Can high tech pajamas help you sleep better? Under Armour thinks so.
The sportswear company unveiled a new line of "sleepwear" at CES that it says will help athletes feel better when they wake up in the morning. Those benefits won't come cheap, however. The so-called Athlete Recovery Sleepwear starts at $80 per piece.
At first glance, the PJs looks like average — if silky smooth — sleep clothes. What makes them special (and worth the big price tag, according to Under Armour), is the special pattern woven onto the inside of the pajamas.
Called TB12, the pattern doesn't look like much, but it leverages something called biocermaics, which Under Armour says helps improve recovery time after strenuous workouts.
"It takes the heat that's coming off of your body and basically kicks it back into your body in the form of far infrared," Under Armour's senior VP of global product Glenn Silbert told Mashable.
That may sound like a corporate marketing department's voodoo, but Under Armour says it has the science to back up its claims.
"The science behind bioceramaics is really coming into its own. What things are being claimed against it, they are fairly basic things, but they are the unlock to recovery," Silbert says. "When you have better blood flow, toxins like lactic acid and other things flush out of your body faster and aid in reducing inflammation. That incremental benefit when you're sleeping is significant for athletes."
Tom Brady is apparently also a longtime proponent of the technique, as he worked with Under Armour to commercialize the technique via its sleepwear line.
At $80 each for the sleep shorts and T-shirt, and $100 each for the pants and long sleeve shirts (there are men's and women's versions for both), the "recovery" clothes definitely aren't for everyone, but serious fitness enthusiasts might want to give them a shot.
Topics CES
Karissa was Mashable's Senior Tech Reporter, and is based in San Francisco. She covers social media platforms, Silicon Valley, and the many ways technology is changing our lives. Her work has also appeared in Wired, Macworld, Popular Mechanics, and The Wirecutter. In her free time, she enjoys snowboarding and watching too many cat videos on Instagram. Follow her on Twitter @karissabe.
