2026 Sports Product Design FIT Sports Design Award Winners

FIT Sports Design Awards 2026
UO Sports Product Design Award Winners 

Designers. Leaders. Innovators. Award-winners. Students in the Master of Science in Sports Product Design program earn many different titles, thanks to their skills, rigorous education, and the help of a passionate faculty. Award season proves the efficacy of their work, as these designers earn awards in top design competitions, such as the FIT Sports Design Awards. Each year, the FIT Sport Design Awards seeks to recognize the industry’s most innovative sports equipment and apparel with professional and student categories. The 2026 awards saw eight students earn honors for a myriad of different designs. 

Rachael Belshaw

3 angles of a woman in a black motorcycle helmet and a red, white, and blue, Team USA themed cycling outfit.

Surge BMX Racing Kit

The Surge BMX Racing Kit is a high-performance race uniform designed for elite female BMX athletes. Riders face intense physical demands, including high-speed sprinting, impact, and rapid directional changes, requiring a system that supports movement while maintaining durability and comfort. Through athlete feedback, a key insight emerged: riders want to look and feel like women on the track, not like they are wearing scaled-down men’s gear. This kit addresses that gap with a balanced, female-specific fit, combining a relaxed-fitting top for freedom of movement with fitted bottoms that reduce excess material and prevent interference while riding.

The Surge features reinforced zones in high-wear areas to withstand abrasion and impact, while 4-way stretch woven fabrics allow unrestricted motion on the bike. Polyester mesh is integrated into key heat zones to improve breathability and moisture management during competition. The split leg color design creates a subtle contrast as the rider moves, enhancing visibility on screen and emphasizing motion.

Will Curtis

several people wearing black, soft leather jackets. One is being rained on to showcase that the design is waterproof.

BLACKOUT

BLACKOUT is a snowboard jacket designed for the people behind the shot. Built for professional snowboard and ski videographers, it responds to long days spent hiking, riding, carrying gear, and working around trees, sleds, rope, snow, and ice. The project started with a simple observation: while technical outerwear keeps chasing lighter materials, mountain workers still trust leather in products like Kinco gloves because it holds up, can be maintained. I wanted to see what would happen if that same thinking was applied to a jacket. The result is a piece that blends workwear durability with a modern premium silhouette, using leather, beeswax treatment, ventilation, and camera specific storage to support real use in the field. BLACKOUT is not about nostalgia. It is about looking back at proven material logic and using it to question what performance outerwear should value going forward. 

KJ Fightmaster

a female acrobat or aerial artist doing different poses on a hanging bar. Her leotard is red with dark leaves on the legs and a large, white heard on the chest.

Kinetic Grip

Kinetic Grip is a performance unitard for aerial arts that improves traction in the body areas performers rely on most for contact, wrapping, and grip. Developed for a local athlete, the project responds to a clear user need: acrobatic artist Sequoia Allen described wanting to sew grip panels into regular leggings, and 46% of surveyed aerial artists reported that their apparel was not grippy enough. In response, the garment uses strategically placed grip overlays in high-contact zones identified through a survey of 74 aerial practitioners. Broken-apart appliques preserve stretch, mobility, and comfort while improving security and supporting modern performance needs. The heart motif references former aerial artist costumes in KOOZA, helping the garment stay visually rooted in that whimsical circus universe rather than reading as purely technical. Additional heat-activated-adhesive-backed film layers soften the appearance of the grip and were individually placed over seamlines to conceal construction, reflecting the high level of finish and detail associated with Cirque du Soleil costumes. 

SJ Han

A pair of unbranded, black shoes with a flat sole and white, grid-like pattern throughout.

길(Gill): The Path

The GILL Tracetek is a purpose-built performance shoe engineered for professional parkour athletes navigating urban landscapes. It delivers multidirectional grip, precise flexibility, and advanced impact absorption so athletes can move seamlessly from rail to wall to rooftop. Every material and structural choice was validated through athlete testing and lab data to balance durability, mobility, and safety. This footwear empowers traceurs to perform at elite levels while minimizing injury risk, redefining what is possible in urban performance footwear. 

Lauren Kochaver

a blue bike with a water bottle holder made of upcycled denim, structured with resin.

Re:Cycle

This water bottle cage transforms non-recyclable denim waste into a functional cycling component. Using a custom molding process and bio-based resin, discarded textiles are upcycled into a strong, lightweight composite. The design highlights the natural texture of denim while delivering everyday performance, offering a durable alternative to conventional metal or plastic cages.

a tan, boot-like sneaker with orange eyelets, and a thick, bisected, wavy sole. The upper half of the sole is white, and the bottom is black.

Strata

Strata is a trail running shoe designed to reduce impact stress while maintaining ground feel. Inspired by the structures found in the clubs of mantis shrimp, the shoe integrates a bi-corrugated dual density foam midsole to improve impact absorption while maintaining ground feel.

Jenna Passke

a woman holding an oar. She is wearing a navy, nylone/spandex body suit with white mesh over her arms and down her sides.

The Crosscurrent Racing Suit

The Crosscurrent Racing Suit is a high-performance, one-piece garment designed for female athletes tackling the 80-mile open ocean SUP race from the Bahamas to Florida. Developed through athlete-centered research, the suit addresses critical performance needs: ventilation, compression, and integrated on-body storage for essential gear. Mesh zones, compressive panels, and reflective accents are strategically placed to optimize thermoregulation, muscle support, and visibility. The suit’s design accommodates prolonged paddling in temperatures from 55–95°F, supports required safety equipment, and enhances ergonomics for female physiology. Functional details such as a front half-zip, thumbholes, and storage pockets improve comfort and race efficiency. Iterative prototyping refined anatomical fit, durability, and hydrodynamics, creating a garment that empowers athletes to maintain performance, endurance, and confidence throughout long-duration, extreme open-ocean racing. 

A pair of black, lobster-style glove, meaning the middle, ring, and pinky fingers are all covered by one section. The gloves are meant for warm weather, and have hexagonal, rubbery grips and pink vent holes.

HexDrift Glove

HexDrift: The best grip in the worst conditions. The Hexdrift glove, a cyclocross glove for women, addresses an unmet gap in the market by delivering a warm, insulated silhouette that still preserves high dexterity for technical riding. 

Steven Schorzman

A male skier in a navy body suit. There is a zipper that extends from his neckline to about the bellybutton. A second image shows the material in a gray color to showcase the nylon and lycra knit materials.

DualSkin XC

DualSkin is a performance Nordic ski racing suit designed to address a critical but often overlooked barrier to endurance performance: skin irritation. For athletes managing eczema or sensitive skin, these conditions can trigger flare-ups, discomfort, and distraction during high-intensity efforts. Cross-country skiing demands sustained output in cold, variable conditions, where athletes cycle between overheating and rapid cooling. Traditional compression suits prioritize aerodynamics and muscle support but often rely on synthetic fabrics, tight constructions, and chemical finishes that can trap moisture and create friction. DualSkin reframes the race suit as a bio-mechanical interface, using a dual-surface system to stabilize the skin environment. By reducing friction, buffering moisture, and minimizing irritation in high-contact zones, the suit allows athletes to maintain focus, movement efficiency, and confidence throughout competition, ultimately supporting more consistent performance over the duration of a race.

Madeline Watkins

A 3 piece backpack and jacket set. A wooly purple and black base layer, a sleek black backpack, and a pink layer that adds additional warmth and protection with a hold that leaves the bag exposed.

Jack RABit Jacket System

Designed for the relentless pace of multi-day speed records, this all-in-one jacket system streamlines the traditional layering system. By fusing a shell, vest, and base layer into a single 258g garment, it eliminates bulk and redundancy. The core features a layering of Climashield Apex and Argon 67 nylon, specifically mapped to the chest to retain heat even when soaked by sweat or precipitation. In contrast, the back and strap zones utilize a low-profile Alpha Direct 4004, maximizing breathability where your pack normally traps heat. The system’s true time-saver is the deployable shell. Stowed in a pocket on the base layer beneath the pack, the shell can be pulled over both the athlete and their pack in seconds, without the user ever needing to break stride. Its unique design adapts to varying pack volumes and external gear attachments, while the 10D ripstop nylon provides a defense against the elements. Whether you’re fleeing a lightning storm at 14,000 feet or pushing through a multi-day endurance endeavor, this system delivers the versatility of a traditional layering system with the streamlined efficiency of a single garment designed for speed and functionality. 

a sports bra with a multi-colored pattern, large mesh pockets, and a drinking tube to drink directly from the bra.

Stride & Stash Sports Bra Running Vest

Why layer when you can integrate into one seamless garment? The Stride & Stash Bra is the ultimate solution for the female ultra-runner who is tired of struggling to layer a sports bra and a hydration vest on a warm day in a way that remains comfortable. This is endurance apparel that prioritizes thermal regulation and streamlined hydration, two non-negotiable needs when racing through the desert heat. By removing the friction and heat buildup of multiple garments, it creates a garment that stays cooler, feels lighter, and reacts to the demands of the trail. Nearly every woman on the trail wears a sports bra and a vest, this garment finally brings them together into one seamless system. 

Learn More

List of FIT Award Winners

UO Sports Product Design Program