This New Custom AI Kit Will Fit You Perfectly–And a One-Off Custom Design Isn’t As Much as You Think 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is starting to infiltrate triathlon. We’ve got THEMAGIC5 face-scanned custom goggles, training platforms like TriDot and HumanGo, Garmin’s Active Intelligence, and now Regna custom kit. Custom kit is by no means anything new. Every man and his dog seems to have custom printed kit at races these days, but we’re not talking about splashing a few local logos on a jersey. Regna is a new kit brand based in Singapore that offers custom-printed kit that is also custom cut to size–thanks to AI. 

As someone who has been lucky enough to wear many trisuits (Castelli, Tactic, Garneau, NoPinz, Champion System, Santini, Zone3, Dare2Tri, Sugoi, Roka) and even work with a few different brands, I was pretty curious. I’ve developed a niche interest in fabrics (read: picky and prefers top-of-the-line) and, perhaps most importantly, as someone who is short of stature with cycling quads, fit has never been a selling point for me. When I was sponsored by Louis Garneau, it was the first time I was personally measured–and the first time the designer went “hmm.” I didn’t really fit into their standard sizes of trisuits. To their credit, they sewed a female chamois into a junior boys track skinsuit and then added pockets for my long-distance needs. The designers at Tactic also made the same “hmm” face when they measured me and, much to my delight, I had custom cut and custom printed kit that fit perfectly. While both of those experiences were fantastic, they were also very out of the ordinary, very time consuming, and very expensive. 

Regna AI promises to make that experience accessible to everyone. Using their app, customers take two photos of themselves and AI identifies 100 key measurements from the images. From that data, garments are custom cut precisely to an individual’s measurements. Of course, you can add a custom design and, considering the price of other top-end trisuits (Castelli’s new PR Speed suit for $450, Surpass at a whopping $755) and that there are no minimums, coming in at $475 is pretty enticing. 

Regna

Before I did the scan, I did a bit more research. What kind of fabrics were they using? Had they tested the trisuits in the wind tunnel? And was it truly individually cut or did the AI measurements just point to an expanded size library of pre-cut garments?

“We believe AI is the future of the sports industry when it comes to perfect fit,” says marketing director, Ladi Demko. He tells me the team has over 25 years of experience in the industry and how the app took years of development, as did their products. He was vague on the wind tunnel testing, but their fabric selection appeared to be inline with industry expectations, unsurprisingly sourced from Switzerland and Italy. 

“Fabric selection and sourcing is one of the most focused priorities, especially when it comes to functionality and fit. We focus on aerodynamics, thermoregulation and cooling aspects,” he says. And when I press him on whether every garment is truly individually cut, “Absolutely, yes,” Demko stresses. 

“Every piece of equipment, whether trisuits, cycling kits or running apparel, is individually custom made by AI measurements / Regna 3D Body scan application, where we can still adjust by our customer needs.”

“We simply do not believe that one size fits all. Every athlete deserves gear that fits their body, sport, and ambition. At Regna, we go beyond apparel — we deliver tools that support your performance and reflect who you are,” Demko says. 

Well, it was my turn to say “hmm.” That all sounded great but would it actually fit perfectly, what did it feel like, and was it up to my picky preferences?

The AI Scanning Process

The ordering process is pretty easy, but you do need a second set of hands. After you download the app and create an account, you start your profile with basic metrics like your weight, height, age and gender. Next, you select your product. Whether you’re going off the rack or complete custom, you can play around with the design generator. This is the one area that was a bit frustrating. 

Like other design generators, it was a bit difficult and tedious, made worse by using your finger on a screen. You upload and place a logo only for it to move to a completely different spot while you’re adding another. Move the “mannequin” and you can accidentally move things or leave the app for too long to source a file, and you have to start all over again. After several failed attempts, I finally got something that resembled what I wanted. However, this step is optional even if you want a custom design. The design on the app only functions as an initial mock-up so the actual qualified designer has a starting point. It’s worth some frustration to speed things up for the designer, but don’t waste your time making it perfect. After the order is placed, the company contacts you and the design process continues. 

PHOTOtoFIT

Next comes what makes the process unique. Following the prompts, you will be asked to take two photos: one facing the camera and a second in profile. You need to stand in a specific way (with your hands in a specific way) and you’re asked to, well, basically, just wear an underwear-amount of tight clothing. I opted for a sports bra and tight running shorts and that did the trick just fine. 

You will definitely need someone else to take the photos. It took a few attempts to get in the correct stance, but it was simple and easy. The app ensures your photos will work for the measurement scan with green and red prompts to adjust your position so there is no guess work. 

Your face is covered by a red square upon submitting, and there is a promise that your photos and information is safe. Who knows what they actually see on the other side but, given the context, it did oddly make me feel better seeing my face covered. 

After you complete the two photos, your measurements are available to see on an avatar. I compared them to hand-taken measurements and they were all similar. 

Next, you complete your purchase and wait for your order to be processed. If you’re ordering a custom cut only, the order times are advertised as two weeks. If you’re getting a custom printed design as well, the ordering process is a bit longer as you work with a designer. To test the full process, I went through for a custom design and it was very simple and fast (yes, because they had the mock-up to work from). Once I approved the final design, it took sixteen days to arrive at my door (the extra days were caused by the dual customs process where I live) and I’m classifying that as a win on their delivery promise. 

The Goods

The kit arrived in a beautiful branded black and orange box, inside a branded shipping sachet. Sealed on both sides with metallic branded stickers, my custom “women’s pro athlete trisuit open zip” was delicately wrapped in tissue with a note on top. It was a great brand experience– but all of that would be worth nothing if the kit was subpar. 

The second I felt the fabric with my hands, I was impressed. Like I said, I’m picky and I’ve worked with enough brands and worn enough kit in my life to know what high-quality, technical, performance fabric feels like and this was it. The kit used a combination of fabrics for cooling, compression, and aerodynamics. The sleeves and sides use a textured material with ventilation that is also odor-controlling thanks to “Nano Bamboo.” The main body and shorts are a four-way stretch, “Marettimo” fabric, that is more “shiny” and slightly thicker than the rest but light in feel. The suit is quick-dry and also offers UV protection. 

The custom design was exactly what was expected and the printing was clear and flawless. The garment design itself had well-located pockets, including a small ice compartment at the back of the neck. The rear pockets were pretty standard, with sloping side-entrances. 

The Fit

The most important part: the fit. I was impressed. Like the custom cut suits I’ve had before, the Regna suit fit well. I was most impressed with the compression. It’s hard to make a fitted compressive garment comfortable if the fit is off by even just a little, but that is where Regna succeeds. Maybe it’s just me, but I often find sleeve grippers can be a bit tight. It’s no surprise trisuits started from a cycling design so I figure it’s because cyclists don’t usually have arm muscles, but triathletes have swimming biceps. The Regna sleeves weren’t tighter at the bottom which gave them a thumbs up in my book. 

If I’m being picky, the torso could have been a tad shorter but it would probably be too fine of a line to ensure comfort bending over on the bike or during the run. 

The chamois looked pretty standard. There is a choice between short and long distance chamois, I picked the latter. Nothing stood out, bad or good, just looking and feeling it. 

My one complaint would be the grippers on the bottom of the shorts. I much prefer a clean laser-cut with added silicone rather than a separate gripper piece. I never find them comfortable and they always tend to give you that bulge above, especially if they are the correct size. Also, less seams are always better in my book. 

Race Testing

Looking good and feeling good is great but, bottom line, the kit has to perform well. For me, that means, primarily, it stays out of the way. Aero advantages, UV protection, fuel storage, all become secondary if your kit doesn’t fit, is too hot, doesn’t function well, or is just plain uncomfortable. I don’t want to be thinking about what I’m wearing when I’m racing. 

For my season opener, an extremely hot day at Challenge Gran Canaria, I didn’t think about the suit once–perfect. It stayed put where it needed to stay put, but never felt restricting or uncomfortable and I didn’t have any post-race chafing. The chamois doesn’t offer anything special, but it performed well enough–not a selling point but nothing to deter me from wearing it again. 

Despite being black, I didn’t feel over-heated which I thought might be an issue with the high rise of the shorts under the top. Since it was a hot and humid 30C, I appreciated the ventilated arms. Later in the race, I also had to zip-up when an official told me to do so and the zipper was easy to use–a simple thing that can be frustratingly difficult under race stress while on the move. 

The pockets functioned as expected. I primarily used the rear pockets since that is what I’m used to and they punched above their weight, holding a lot more than it looked like they could thanks to the stretchy fabric. In future, I will be using more of the additional pockets, especially the leg pockets on the run. Regna boast about the ice pocket at the pack of the neck, but for me it was too fiddly to get a chunk of ice in there. Perhaps, if you weren’t as stressed about losing time or slowing down (or you had practiced) you could find the opening more easily, but I just jammed the ice down my top and got a move on.

There was some fabric chafing around the pocket seams, but almost all of my suits have this kind of wear after a race. I washed the suit according to the instructions and it washed well, showing no signs of additional wear. 

Verdict 

I’m really impressed with the Regna kit. It’s the simplest way I’ve encountered to get high-end custom kit that anyone can access, which is a feat to be applauded. The AI scanning takes the worry out of whether you’ll spend a lot of money and it won’t fit correctly and ensures a level of comfort that’s needed for racing. The whole process is easy enough and the price is more than fair. 

I would love to see some wind tunnel data. While their fabrics feel high quality, having data to back it up is necessary at the top level and would provide more confidence in the product. I would also be curious to see if they continue to innovate their products. Their app scanning process is ahead of the curve but whether their fabrics can keep them there will remain to be seen. Now, however, from feel and field testing, their fabrics function at a high level, giving comfort and performance. 

I would purchase another suit and can recommend this to anyone looking for a performance-driven, custom printed and custom cut suit. 

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