Women upgraded their sports bras. They invested in technical leggings. They bought performance shoes with carbon fiber plates. But they’re still working out in regular underwear designed for sitting at desks.
Nobody noticed. Until now.
On November 13, Bengaluru-based Adira launched something that shouldn’t be revolutionary but is: the world’s first Sports Panty. Not a renamed hipster. Not repurposed activewear. An actual performance underwear category built from scratch.
The question isn’t why it exists. It’s why it took this long.
The Gap Nobody Saw
Deepa Vari, Founder of Adira, saw it in the data. She pulled marketplace numbers using Google Trends and Helium10. The story was stark.
Sports bras? Millions of monthly searches globally. Massive product selection. Entire dedicated categories on every major platform.
Sports panties? Barely a blip. No category. No awareness. No options.
“Women didn’t lack the need. They lacked access, options, and awareness,” Vari said. “Search volume reflects awareness. Awareness reflects the existence of a category. Because the category never existed, women never had the language to search for it.”
The Problem Everyone Accepted
Ask any woman who trains seriously and she’ll tell you: regular underwear fails during workouts.
Cotton stays damp for an hour after you’re done. Nylon clings and traps heat. Elastic digs in and leaves marks that last until evening. Seams create friction. Everything rides up mid-squat. Visible panty lines ruin the sleek look under leggings.
Women just… dealt with it. Because what else could they do?
“Cotton absorbs but doesn’t release. It stays damp, heavy, and bulky once soaked with sweat. Standard nylon lacks wicking efficiency. Elastic waistbands take longer to dry than the fabric itself, keeping those welt marks damp long after your workout ends,” the company documented.
Thigh chafing. Sweat retention. Fabric burns. Moisture discomfort. Universal problems. Zero solutions.
Engineering the Answer
HydraSkin™ Sports Panty isn’t modified underwear. It’s rethought underwear.
Adira started with the fabric. Collagen-infused HydraSkin™ technology that doesn’t just wick moisture—it actually helps skin stay hydrated even while managing sweat.
Independent lab testing backs every claim:
- 35% faster sweat absorption than standard workout fabrics
- 15% faster moisture release
- 15% superior cooling
- 8.3% improvement in skin moisturization during activity
Then they rebuilt the construction. Single-panel design instead of the cheaper multi-panel that every brand uses. No stitched elastic. Bonded seamless edges that actually disappear under compression wear. Natural cotton crotch where it matters.
“Multi-panel construction is cheaper to manufacture, but it creates friction during movement,” Vari explained. “We chose performance over profit margin. That’s why sports panties didn’t exist. Nobody wanted to rebuild underwear from scratch.”
The Credentials That Matter
This isn’t Adira’s first time creating categories others missed.
The company launched India’s first Period Panty in 2009. Holds patents in India and the USA. Created Morph Maternity wear. Runs Pristine Life for incontinence solutions. Eighteen years of solving problems the industry ignored.
“For 18 years, my work at Adira has been guided by one principle: When an important solution for women doesn’t exist, we must create it,” Vari said. “Women are more active today than ever before. We run, jump, stretch, lift, cycle, dance, and trek. Yet the garment closest to our skin has barely evolved in decades.”
After studying global brands, archives, patents, and marketplace terminology, Adira confirmed what the data suggested: nobody had built a performance-first sports panty, positioned it as a new category, or constructed it around technical efficacy.
The Sports Panty category was born in 2025. In Bengaluru. By a company with a fraction of the R&D budget of Nike, Lululemon, or Adidas.
Size Matters
HydraSkin™ Sports Panty launches in sizes up to 10XL. Not as an afterthought. From day one.
“Size inclusivity isn’t optional when you’re creating a category,” Vari said. “If sports panties are for athletes, they’re for every body type that moves.”
What Happens Next
Deepa isn’t trying to monopolize the category. She’s trying to build it.
“True transformation happens only when multiple players enter the space,” she wrote. “Competition validates the need. Consumer awareness grows when more brands participate. Some will explore similar fabrics. Some will push the category into directions we haven’t imagined yet. That is how a category becomes mainstream.”
Sports bras transformed upper-body support. Compression leggings changed how we move. Shapewear redefined contouring.
Sports Panties complete the ecosystem.
The real question: If the ₹12,000 crore activewear industry missed this, what else are they missing?
HydraSkin™ Sports Panty is available now at MyAdira.com.
About Adira: Adira is a brand from Yashram Lifestyle Brands Pvt Ltd., founded by Deepa Vari in 2007. Deepa holds patents in India and USA for Period Panties (since 2009) and creates innovative intimate wear including the world’s first Sports Panty, Morph Maternity wear, and Pristine Life incontinence products.
