S2E8: Rethinking the Athlete: Why Inclusive Sports Design Matters

On this episode we're joined by Susan Sokolowski, founder and professor of the sports product design program in the College of Design at the UO.  In this episode, she discusses her journey in product design innovation, and how innovative universal design is making a difference in sports product design. Sokolowski shares insights from her research, education, and industry experience.

Topics

• Journey in Career in Product Design and Inclusive Sport Innovation [1:29]
• Universal Design in Athletic Performance [6:46]
• Designing for Female Athletes, Adaptive Athletes, and Underserved Body Types [7:41]
• AI and the Future of Product Design [16:35]
• Advice for Emerging Designers in Inclusive Sports Products [17:31]
• The Role of Research and University in Sports Product Design [18:29]
• Defining Success in Product Design? [19:11]

Guest

• Dr. Susan Sokolowski, Professor and Founder of Sports Product Design MS program at University of Oregon

Resources

• University of Oregon experts' 2026 Winter Olympics Analysis, explore the insights from UO experts, including Susan Sokolowski, breaking down the storylines, innovation, and trends ahead of the Winter Olympics.
• Susan Sokolowski designs Olympic gear, learn more about Susan Sokolowski's work designing the gear this year's Winter Olympians are wearing.
• Team USA's uniform innovation, discover how Susan Sokolowski helped use American-grown wool and advanced manufacturing techniques influenced Team USA's 2026 Olympic uniforms.
• Streamlining Old Navy's women's sizes, learn more about how Susan Sokolowski helped streamline Old Navy's women's garment sizes.
• The Smithsonian's evolution of women's sportswear, hear from Susan Sokolowski about the history of women's sportswear, and how the Olympics affected it.

Quotes

• "As a design educator, I believe it's essential to remain current with the evolving practices of our industry and new technologies emerge in ways of working, sustainability and shifting athlete needs that are continually reshaping our field and really understanding how these changes are critical for preparing our students for professional success" [1:06]
• "I still feel like we're on the journey of educating people and bringing to conversation the importance of [designing products for underserved populations]"[8:14]
• "As a designer, you must balance being too innovative on a new product with too many design changes that are unfamiliar to the athlete versus making incremental and understandable changes that enables trust in your product and adoption of those products."[11:08]
• "I think it all comes down to user-centered design. We always need to listen to the voice of the athlete and bring them on the journey, and in design and engineering programs, at any university, students must learn about the human body, how to collect user insight, how to measure the performance of design product, otherwise you're only doing 40% to 50% of the job."[18:37]
• "We always need to listen to the voice of the athlete and bring them on the journey." [18:40]

Listen to more episodes and explore the Oregon Podcast Network at news.uoregon.edu/podcasts