Chamois Pad History

If you have been cycling for a while you know how important padded bike shorts are. The cycling shorts you wear should be quite tight, yet comfortable. They should not be too restrictive or too loose. They should protect your legs when or if they rub on the saddle. There should be a comfortable amount of padding and the fabric should be able to abrade without tearing. Also they should have elastic to keep the shorts in place around your legs and not bunch up.

From sheep to deer to a fiber manufactured in Japan, cyclists have been putting some strange stuff in personal places over the years. Mauro Coccia (President of clothing manufacturer, De Marchi) walked us through the evolution of the chamois.

Early 1940s

Chamois. The mountain goat that got us to where we are today

Chamois were added to bike-specific shorts as several companies in Europe started making jerseys and shorts designed solely for cyclists. “That was the golden age of cycling,” Coccia says, “when people start to ride a bicycle as a job.” Because it was becoming a profession as well as a hobby, cycling clothing needed to be defined. That’s when bike shorts—made of cotton or wool—began to be cut to optimize cycling movements, and a pad made of sheep leather was added to the inside of the shorts to prevent chafing.

“Wool and cotton were itchy and caused friction,” Coccia says. Leather, while not exactly comfortable, significantly reduced chafing. Early chamois creams were also invented— but rather than applying them to the skin, they were used to help soften the leather. For your information, "chamois" term is from antelope species they use their leather to made it. The name of the antelope stuck, and today's modern chamois retain the leather's name, despite being made from a host of synthetic materials. 

Late 1940s

Sheep leather was fine, but manufacturers wanted it to be even softer and more supple, so they upgraded to deer. Since demand for cycling gear wasn’t as high as it is today, it was possible to get enough deer leather in Europe for their manufacturing needs—plus, since the shorts only needed small pieces for the chamois, it was possible to work with the scraps. Coccia recalls that at De Marchi, they often used the scraps from auto manufacturers who were using deer leather in their car interiors—and so the leather piles grew in the garage as Coccia’s grandmother cut them into chamois shapes.

1960s

In the 60s, spandex was introduced to the world—which meant that cycling apparel began to move away from natural fibers, and integrate some synthetics. Still, the leather chamois continued to come standard. Coccia notes that any comfort gains in the chamois were minimal. “Chamois then weren’t padded,” he says. “They were just there for the friction fighting.”

1980s 

Chamois technology finally began to evolve the mid ‘80s. A coagulated microfiber was invented in Japan and brought to Europe, where, according to Coccia, cycling apparel makers seized on the new fabric as a way to add foam padding to the chamois and ditch the leather. As the new, less-expensive foam chamois took off, a new type of chamois cream was developed to help eliminate friction and discomfort on the skin, rather than simply softening the hard leather.

2000s 

As more and more women got on bikes, it became obvious that men and women have different “parts” down there, and need different styles of chamois. So, many chamois designers began to adjust their designs to make male- and female-specific styles: men’s chamois typically feature deeper channels, while the women’s tend to have wider rear areas. Small tweaks are continuously being made to chamois to improve fit and style, as well as more technical aspects like ventilation and moisture-wicking through perforations in the foam.

Source:

http://www.bicycling.com

http://www.icebike.org
http://livehealthy.chron.com
http://blog.artscyclery.com


Ride On!