When off-the-peg isn't race-ready for elite triathletes, try Alteracetions.

Elite triathlete Kat Matthews has worked with our team since 2021, adapting and refining racewear to achieve the fit, comfort and functionality she needs to compete at the highest level.

For an elite athlete, a trisuit isn't simply something to wear on race day. Fit can influence aerodynamics, comfort, freedom of movement and how a garment performs once wet.

But even the most technically advanced racewear still has to fit the athlete wearing it.

For Kat Matthews, standard sizing presented a problem.

THE CHALLENGE

When Kat first contacted us in 2021, she had a trisuit she loved - but the fit wasn't right. The lower half fitted well, while her upper body needed something closer to an entire size smaller.

"I'm basically this size suit (S) on the legs and bum but probably a whole size down in the top half."

Simply wearing a smaller suit wasn't the answer. It would have changed the fit through areas that were already working.

Instead, the challenge was to reshape the existing garment around Kat while retaining its original proportions, stretch and technical construction.

OUR APPROACH

Rather than treating the trisuit like a conventional clothing alteration, we approached it as a piece of performance equipment.

The upper section was reduced through the existing seam structure, allowing us to remove excess volume without unnecessarily moving the proportions or features of the garment.

That first alteration established what would become an individual fit reference for Kat. And, importantly, it worked.

When Kat received her following season's suits, she came straight back to us.

"It's perfect."

DEVELOPING AN ATHLETE-SPECIFIC FIT

Performance garments aren't static. Different models, materials and constructions can behave differently - even when they're nominally the same size.

When Kat's 2022 suit arrived, we initially applied the alteration developed from the previous garment. Once she tested it, however, it became clear that the new suit was behaving differently, particularly around the shoulders and neckline.

So we refined it. Material was removed through the front and shoulder panels, while the sleeve and upper section were repositioned into the collar to tighten the entire area.

The result was a much cleaner upper-body fit. Kat's feedback after racing in it?

"I was very aero!!"

From that point, the process became less about repeatedly altering individual garments and more about developing an understanding of Kat's preferred performance fit.

BUILT AROUND THE RACE

That knowledge became particularly important when preparing a new suit for Kona.

Kat knew she would be racing in non-wetsuit conditions, making the fit around the neck and trapezius area particularly important. Her request was clear: she wanted it as tight around the neck and traps as possible.

By this stage, we already had notes from previous alterations and understood how she liked the garment to feel. That meant a brand-new race suit could be adapted using everything we'd learnt from the previous versions.

It is exactly what we believe specialist sportswear alteration should be: not simply making a garment smaller, but understanding how the athlete needs that garment to perform.

MORE THAN FIT

Over the following seasons, the work expanded beyond tailoring. As Kat's racewear, sponsors and competition requirements changed, we adapted her kit with them.

This included refining sleeve circumference by just a few millimetres to improve comfort, changing a chamois after the original caused rubbing during racing, tailoring different brands and constructions, and developing specialist additions to meet race requirements.

One example was the addition of a pouch to carry the data device required for PTO/T100 racing. Rather than simply attaching the supplied solution, we created a lightweight mesh version integrated into the trisuit.

"What you put in is sooo much better than what they supply!!"

That solution could then be carried forward when similar GPS-device requirements were introduced for other races.

PERFORMANCE, TESTED

Perhaps our favourite piece of feedback came after Kat and her team tested six different suits.

The fastest? The one we'd altered.

For us, that's what Alteracetions is about. We're not here to redesign the technical garments athletes already love. We're here to help make those garments work better for the individual wearing them.

TRUST BUILT OVER TIME

Since that first trisuit in 2021, Kat has returned with racewear from different seasons and different brands, as well as new challenges created by changing race requirements.

In 2025, after moving into a new WYN Republic suit with already customised lengths and panels, she still came back to us for the final refinement of the fit.

"I'd really love your help tailoring again... it needs a tad pinching in places / your magic!!"

And perhaps the best endorsement of specialist alteration came a few seasons earlier:

"I just trust you with the material so much! I don't want to go to someone locally I don't know!"

For highly technical performance garments, that trust matters. An alteration has to improve the problem without compromising the materials, construction or functionality that made the garment valuable in the first place.

That's the difference between simply altering sportswear and engineering a better fit.

"Really appreciate how consistently excellent your work is!!"

Kat Matthews | Elite Triathlete and long-term client