Protegé
AIKYOU
Issue 55 | July 2020
Agency
Jung von Matt/NECKAR
Creative Team
Executive Creative Director: Gün Aydemir Creative Director: Anna Rondolino Senior Art Director: Francesca Montrucchio Copywriter: Diana Tannos Senior Art Director/Digital: Julien Bucaille
Production Team
Technical Director: Philippe Just Senior Developer: Stefanie Hezinger Head of Research & Development: Boris Noll Head of Development: Oliver Mueller Senior Project Manager: Verena Vogt Project Manager: Tamara Arbasch CGI Artist: Valentina Kohl Motion Designer: Julian Leupold CGI Artist: Gabriel Wiesler Additional: Alexander Bouquet Additional: Sascha Pabst
Date
March 2020
Background
New smart lingerie developed to protect women against rape. A new AIKYOU Smart-Lingerie Protegé safeguards women against sexual violence by automatically contacting the emergency services if attacked.
As date rape continues to pose a risk for women, especially with modern dating methods as Tinder and Match.com, AIKYOU wants to take action against it with their new Smart-Lingerie Protegé. Using an innovative solution as Smart Yarn, which allows the lingerie to automatically contact the emergency services if needed, the brand wants women to feel secure and free when out in public areas.
Idea
Nominated at the Interactive Innovation Award at SXSW 2020, Protegé automatically contacts the emergency services if the wearer gets attacked and the panty rips. Made possible by the use of Smart Yarn and a Low Energy Bluetooth Microcontroller, Protegé can be linked to an app that requests assistance by sending the wearer’s location if the connection gets broken. Working together with Jung von Matt/Neckar, who showcased Protegé in Austin at SXSW, and AMANN Group, AIKYOU developed the lingerie using the Smart Yarn Silver-tech+. The silver-coated polyester hybrid thread from AMANN is sewn into the lingerie and linked to a Bluetooth Low Energy microcontroller making a connection to your phone possible. Anna Rondolino, Creative Director at Jung von Matt/Neckar, says: “As women we know the everyday limitations that get put on us regarding clothing and we have seen products that battle this in the past, but these often limit women further with locks or smothering and unflattering fabrics. We wanted a different kind of product that would allow women to be free, secure and beautiful at the same time.” “Joining Protegé was important for us since the tech industry is so male-dominated that it tends to put women’s issues second. And since this was an idea that came from women for women, we were glad to provide them with our technology and expertise,” adds Ms. Krautter, Global Communication Manager at AMANN Group.
As a conscious brand, AIKYOU wants to show how incorporating modern technologies into clothing can be used to tackle modern-day issues that their consumers may face. “What is important for us in designing our lingerie is to respect women’s bodies. We want to both free and support our customers. Any woman should be able to express how she feels in her style of dress and wear whatever she wants – without compromising her safety,” say Bianca Renninger and Gabriele Meinl, Managing Directors at AIKYOU.