WHOOP Podcast - Introducing Project Terrain: Engineering The Future Of Performance with Samuel Ross

Episode Date: March 12, 2026

This week, WHOOP Founder and CEO Will Ahmed welcomes Designer Samuel Ross, back to the WHOOP Podcast to unveil Project Terrain, the new collection built to elevate your performance. From technical Italian and Japanese fabrics to architectural steel clasps and reflective detailing, Samuel shares how function, endurance, and silhouette drive every decision. Together, Will and Samuel explore each of the pieces of the collection, diving into the intent that went into the creation of each. Whether its the perforation of the fabrics, the logo detailing, or material finishing, each detail of this collection was thoughtfully created to reimagine performance wear for modern athletes and everyday high performers. (01:06) Introducing Project Terrain(01:48) The Making, Material, and Ethos In Creating The Jacket(04:04) Designing For Season: The Ultimate Spring/Summer Short (06:03) The Influences and Inspiration Behind Project Terrin Layer I(07:51) Project Terrain Bands: A New Look At The Superknit(11:14) Creating For The Modern AthleteFollow Samuel Ross:InstagramXLinkedInWebsiteFollow SR_A:InstagramWebsiteSupport the showFollow WHOOP: Sign up for WHOOP Advanced Labs Trial WHOOP for Free www.whoop.com Instagram TikTok YouTube X Facebook LinkedIn Follow Will Ahmed: Instagram X LinkedIn Follow Kristen Holmes: Instagram LinkedIn Follow Emily Capodilupo: LinkedIn

We're excited to bring this collection to the world. It's all rooted in this idea of function. We're building this really beautiful system as a true garment and wearable design system between graphics and perforation that enables protection and endurance and also the whoop hardware to be visible at all times. Who do you feel like is the right whoop member for this collection?

The movers and shakers of society, the modern athlete and the professional athlete. But I also think about the everyday day individual who's excelling in their training day in and day out. What's up, folks? If you care about health, performance fitness, you may really enjoy getting a whoop. You can check out whoop at whoop.com. It measures everything around sleep, recovery, strain, and you can now sign up for free for 30 days. So you'll literally get the high performance wearable in the mail for free. You get to try it for 30 days, see whether you want to be a

member, and that is just at whoop.com. Back to the guests. I'm here with the very talented Samuel Ross. Samuel, you're going to tell us all about this collaboration that we've done together. What is Project Terrain? You know, firstly, it's a joy to be here and actually dive into the design and garment process for both, you know, wearable and also garment. Project terrain is this ethos, this vision we've been building, which is about seasonal training. You know, We're going to tell this over three chapters. And chapter one will include six different products, which are really quite special. We've focused on bringing in the highest level of, you know, Italian, Japanese and South Korean technical fabrics.

And it's about building a system that you can live with daily for training and for leisure. I love it, man. So let's dive in on the collection. You know, we have to start with the jackets. Like, I've spent the past 10 years of my, you know, career. building technical jackets with specific millers and all of those learnings have come into what we're building here. This is a lightweight jacket which of course has reinforced zips, perforation and insulated pads throughout and we're building

this really beautiful system of a visual language you could say between graphics and perforation that enables the wood hardware to be visible at all times. There's just like a really distinct and powerful silhouette. Something about oozes this feeling of protection and endurance factored throughout. Well, I love the material, first of all. It's lightweight, but it also feels super protective. And you've got this incredible, almost like sheen that's coming off of it. You know, we were talking about this earlier.

It's this feeling of being pronounced but also being discreet. There's a sense of vigilance that comes from these particular materials that we're choosing. We don't need to peacock or shout to make a really clear impact in the market. And it feels so honest to meet the WOOP user with that level of intelligence that we know they expect from us with this type of product. You mentioned the ability to see the Woop. I love this design detail. Talk a little bit about it. Yeah, you know, that feeling every time you see another member of the community with a WOOP,

you feel something in your heart string. And it is that glint of seeing, let's say, a Torbion or Chronograph. watch coming into play. I wanted to make sure that we're really supporting the visibility of the loop and its placement and bringing in a new system, a new identity that supports the placement against the body. I think they're really interesting systems to be built upon there visually. Or right now you can't tell them wearing a whoop. Yeah. If I're wearing this, you know, you just have this little subtle shoutouts. The right glint. You know, typically you'll see a brand kind of bring in this type of memorabilia without any reason or purpose. It looks cool. Okay.

we get it. But actually, there's so much IP and technology that's been established around the wrist here to support this moment. It made total sense to bring that forward. This focus on pure silhouette. For Project Terrain, obviously, we're thinking about like seasonal players here. It made sense to go into the spring summer season with a short setup, you know, which is on the menswear side and on the women's, there will also be a body form set. So this idea of season will really play into each collection. It's going to be able to handle, you know, water, sweat, rain. Feels like it's got a lot of protective capabilities, but it's also breathable, totally, which is a hard, that's a hard balance. Completely. You know, we wanted something which reflected how we want to feel when we go for

a run or when we train and no one wants to feel stuffy or or heavy, although they're being burdened. And all of those decisions have gone into the grade of fabric, the level of coating that we've brought forward here. Aspects such as vigilance and visibility, which really matter when you're training, you know, if it's in the middle of the night and you've just got that pocket for a run, you still want to be visible, but you don't want to have to take out a phone review per se. We've brought in free-em and reflective flex throughout the product to ensure there are still plenty of visibility in place. And that also, you know, that reflects what we're doing with the bands that will release as well, having those little reflective hits so that you are still able to be seen

or feel secure on your night trains or your early morning trains. It's funny. It reminds me a little bit of like a boxing short, but it's not. You know, it's clearly something you could wear, you know, running, cycling or in the gym. But it's got that swagger to it. Yeah, and it has a strong silhouette, right? This idea of fitness and shape and form and silhouette and structure is at the core of what we're doing here. And each season, we're going to keep building on those silhouettes to make sure that they're attentive,

attractive and really quite clear. The whole vision here is that season after season, you'll be able to look at each of these garments, you know, with all the details and see a continuity and a real strength in the design language developing. Love it. Where should we go next? You know, I think we go to the actual influences. The amount of time spent within industrial design

and working on architectural, you know, projects in Geneva, has all kind of filtered into what we're doing here. This value on function is at the core of what we're doing. You're not going to see overzealous graphics come forward from us. I think it's about respecting the principle of function, that's at the core of WOOP, and making sure that is factored into all of the products that you see. It even comes down to, you know, function in perforation of breathability,

where it's not too much. the placements are discreet. They're to be discovered by the user, and they validate all of the choices which might, you know, look visually beautiful. It's all rooted in this idea of function first. I see that. I mean, the perforations are in places where you'd want some air, very intentional decisions you've made. It's also little things like, you know, if we didn't perth the hood, we've all been in the scenario where you're running and it becomes this wind tunnel. And it doesn't necessarily form to the body. All of that's being considered here when it's, you know, you know, counterplacing these little details.

Color is going to be quite exciting to explore, and I think that each season will lean on this focus of terrain and different terrains and different environments. For season one, there's a deep focus on the city and city performance, and those moments of, you know, deep slate tones and ironcast hues and titaniums coming into this muted palette that we've selected. For season two, we're going to keep building on the idea of terrain in the outdoors, through rusts and through deep brown hues coming into play.

And for season three, I think, you know, we'll have to wait for people to really see that about these huge prize. Totally. Should we look at the bands? Yeah, let's do it. So we've explored a few colors across the season and a few different materials. It made sense, again, going back into this fall of discretion,

to work with the super knit, which is, of course, a signature of the Woup House, but bringing in a slightly new take on colour and patina, which felt refined but quite distinct. We're thinking about the wearability daily. There will, of course, be moments which reflect the urgency of the outdoors, which is a massive inspiration on Project Terrain, which is where you're seeing these signature vault tones that we tend to pull from come into place. But the idea of optionality is super important here.

And of course, that works with the function of being able to take in and out different straps. want that to be factored into the color options here. I think the material we're using here, it's got a little bit of grip to it. It feels like it's breathable. It seems like something you could sweat in. It seems like something you can wear to the office or wear out. I like that it's got this sort of multi-purpose overall dimensionality to it. Totally. And also a type system which reflects the outdoors, you know, the type of print we're using is it's slightly raised and it has a really interesting reflective pigment ink. So there are different, you know, layers of detailing that are coming into play that feel pronounced and urgent and decorative. Well, as you talk about this, I have to try

this band on. It's too good looking. It's an incredible shape and form. You know, this band, it's the first time this color has been brought in and, you know, we're super honored to be able to introduce that into play. And once it's on, you know, the way that the graphic works with the proportions and those raised areas, which give you a little bit more. insulation, a little bit more padding and a bit more resistance on the band and protection is something we've worked on. Well, I love all the details. You know, on the hook you've got the whoop and SRA. On the side, the project terrain written over the clasp with what feels like kind of an outdoorsy element. Completely. And then you're using a little bit of, it feels like what is

this, a paint. It's a pigment, like a free-end pigment, yeah. That creates a certain texture where it feels more grippy. Completely. Yeah, it's a good looking band. It's just this focus on endurance which has really come into play. As you said, these particular patinies and finishes on the steel, on the pigment, on the free end print, it's durable and it is ready to be used. This idea of a tool comes to mind. It's not about perfection, it's about durability. And you can kind of imagine once, you know, you start to phase in the apparel and you see the overlaying, there's a true garment and wearable design system here that we're forging and establishing. At its core, the intent of project

terrain is to broaden the community values through product. You know, we have in mind being able to represent our generation and the next generation of athletes and artists, makers and designers through a garment system, but also

through space. You know, so much about training and whoops able to excel in the world is about being on body, but being together in physical space. And we have this deep intent of installation coming into play, an event coming into play, and temporary architecture coming into play that will continue to build upon

project terrain across each of our chapters. Who do you feel like is the right WOOP member for this collection? You know, I think about the movies and shakers of society. I think about the modern athlete and the professional athlete. There are many names which come to mind, but I also think about the everyday individual who's excelling in their training day in and day out. I think having this cadence between how we live day to day and our global cultural custodians join this story is going to be profound. Well, you've done beautiful

work here and I just want to say on behalf of everyone at WOOP, Samuel, it's a really a pleasure to get to partner with you, and we're excited to bring this collection to the world. And absolute joy, Will. Thank you. If you enjoyed this episode of the WOOP podcast, please leave a rating or review. Check us out on social at Woop at Will Ahmed. If you have a question to us answer it on the podcast, email us, podcast at whoop.com. Call us 508-443-4952. If you think about joining whoop, you can visit whoop.com, sign up for a free 30-day trial membership. New members to use the code will, W-I-L-L, to get a $60 credit on W-W-Acessaries when you enter the code at checkout. That's a wrap, folks. Thank you all for listening.

We'll catch you next week on the WOOP podcast. As always, stay healthy and stay in the green.