This article first appeared on Cyclingnews.
POC has expanded its AVIP collection to include new printed ceramic protection for its jerseys, bib shorts and accessories.
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Forward-thinking Swedish apparel specialists POC has won numerous design awards for its product design and specific focus on user safety in recent years. The AVIP collection, which stands for Attention, Visibility, Interaction, Protection, has an array of design features that ultimately aim to improve rider safety on the roads, alongside more performance focused properties.
For the Summer 2018 collection, POC has added printed ceramic areas to its AVIP jerseys and bib shorts, as well as offering the technology on its arm and leg warmers.
Ceramic panelling placed strategically on the garments aims to reduce friction in a fall or crash scenario by allowing the individual to slide more freely and in turn helps to prevent common injuries, such as road rash, POC claims.
Alongside the printed ceramic areas, high-strength polymer Vectran is also incorporated into the garments in an attempt to reduce abrasion to material and improve strength.
POC also says that while the focus of the design is injury prevention, the materials double up as high-performance garments which have been tested extensively by riders from EF Education First-Drapac, who POC provides training and racing kit for.
While the materials and ceramic print are new design features for the range, the aesthetics of the jersey are retained from previous season designs. POC says that improved visibility isn't just increasing the amount of fluorescent material but that it is about "considering and contrasting the use of colour in an environment," which is the cornerstone of AVIP.
POC's focus on the contrast in the jersey design aims to draw the brain's attention to the colours compared to the background and the adjacent colours to improve rider visibility.
AVIP Ceramic VPDs bib shorts
The AVIP Ceramic VPDs bib shorts features silicone technology alongside other materials in the chamois pad to reduce pressures and vibrations while riding. The VPDs chamois now features in nearly all of POC's bib shorts and tights.
POC's head of apparel Monica Lindstrom says: "We believe the new AVIP collection to be a major leap forward in our apparel design and technology. Our teams have used their extensive experience to find fabrics and materials in order to create precision apparel with unique qualities and the low-friction ceramic zones on the updated AVIP road collection is just one example."
The range is available now and priced at £155 / $175 / €180 for the AVIP short sleeve Ceramic jersey and £210 / $250 / €250 for the AVIP Ceramic VPDs bib shorts.