Graphene-wear - Wear the best pic.twitter.com/y1kxQAGtUb

— Versarien® plc (@versarien) December 1, 2020

Versarien's advanced graphene materials have been cropping up in a range of engineering projects - now you could be wearing them next time you exercise.

The Staverton-based advanced engineering group has long been developing products woven with graphene, ranging from a development deal with the Ministry of Defence to face masks.

But next up is a range of sports goods - trailed in a new promotional video - with the first garments due to be delivered this month.

Chief executive Neill Ricketts said the company has been working on textiles throughout the pandemic with the support of a £5million loan from Innovate UK.

He said: "This is part of an ongoing plan to bring graphene into things we use on a daily basis, using graphene's unique properties to add in thermal management, anti-bacterial and sweat wicking abilities to name a few.

"This hopefully. leads to clothes that can sense and support our bodies to not only get the best performance in elite sports people but also adding in a better understanding for the average person to improve their abilities, as well by providing data on efficiency and stopping injury before they become more serious.

"Imagine clothing that could predict critical health events like heart attacks before we even knew they were a problem or clothing that killed viruses on contact, clothing that knew how many extensions or curls not just steps and distance travelled."