Defeating The Heat With Purpose

Sports apparel built for the tropics promises to be the most comfortable you have ever worn.

Anyone who does triathlons in Southeast Asia would have bore the brunt of the searing heat and suffocating humidity in this part of the world. To call a triathlon in our tropical weather a ‘suffer-fest’ is an understatement, yet thousands of participants find themselves signing up for one race after another.

Noor Ashikin Aziz is one of them.

The 49-year-old founder and director of PURPOSE Performance Wear was a runner first, running for the Police Running Club during his national service (NS). Wanting something different, he later decided to pick up cycling in his early 20s after he completed NS.

“Once, on a whim, I took a bumboat for $2 from Changi to Pengerang and cycled to Sungai Rengit. I kept on cycling till I reached Desaru before coming back. And then I kept on doing it over and over again.” he recalled.

When he started his corporate job however, Noor stopped running completely and only picked it up again in his mid30s. He started participating in running and cycling races before he transitioned to duathlons and eventually Ironman 70.3 triathlons.

Fully understanding how painfully hot it can get out there, it was through his struggle to cope with the heat that he founded the first and only triathlon and cycling performance wear brand in Singapore – PURPOSE.

“The heat can get very unbearable during these races, thus I went around looking for something that will help to keep me cooler. That was when I discovered there were no trisuits or cycling kits designed and catered for our merciless Southeast Asian weather, hence I decided to develop my own products for the specific state of use in this weather,” he said.

And this was how PURPOSE was born.