People should be able to see that you do sport, but not smell it
16.2.2024
Translation: machine translated
What particularly stinks for me? Functional clothing whose only function is to stink - yes, stink - at the slightest exertion. The Swedish company Polygiene wants to combat unpleasant odours. You can find out how it works and which clothes don't smell so quickly thanks to its technologies here.
Jogging, biking, skiing, hiking or going on adventure trips - all of these activities are sweat-inducing. There is a reason for this: after all, the fluid produced by millions of sweat glands cools our body and helps us to stay fit and healthy. Without sweat, we would quickly overheat. Endurance sport would not be possible without our ability to sweat - which is quite rare in the animal kingdom.
As beneficial as sweat is for our bodies, it is a test of endurance for our noses. This is not due to the sweat itself, as it is largely odourless. However, in skin folds and in clothing, it creates a warm, damp climate in which odour-causing bacteria grow particularly well. Functional clothing made of polyester in particular transports moisture away from the body. This keeps your skin pleasantly dry. Instead, the moisture collects on the clothing, where the bacteria multiply particularly well and quickly. When they decompose the sweat, the typical odour is created.
More than 500 brands use Polygiene odour inhibitors
The Swedish company Polygiene has been combating odours such as food and smoke since 2006. Its technologies can be found in products from more than 500 global brands - from Adidas and Adidas.to Gripgrab and O'Neill. The outdoor brand Maloja will use polygiene technology in its "Good Morrow" collection for spring and summer 2024. Importantly, the methods are environmentally friendly (Bluesign and Oeko-Tex Eco Passport certified). According to the manufacturer, they also do not harm the skin microbiome, the skin's natural protective barrier.
Source: Siri Schubert
By using various methods to curb unpleasant odours, Polygiene not only aims to protect human noses. It also promotes other goals. For example, clothing should be washed less frequently, which leads to reduced water and detergent consumption. Textiles should also last longer thanks to less frequent washing.
A life cycle analysis carried out by an external institute revealed significant savings for a typical functional shirt made of 90 per cent polyester and 10 per cent elastane, which was worn for 156 training sessions a year. If, thanks to the Polygiene coating, it only ended up in the washing machine after every second sports session, the negative environmental impact was reduced by a third.
Polygiene has proven itself in practice
I have been using a running shirt from Dynafit with Polygiene Stay-Fresh technology for around six months. The shirt is made from 100 per cent recycled polyester, but it hardly smells at all, even after sweaty runs on mountainous trails. For someone like me, who does sport almost every day, it's a real relief not to have to wash my clothes all the time. When travelling, it's also nice to have to carry less luggage and not have any stink bombs in your hotel room or suitcase after strenuous runs.
The biggest advantage for me is that I no longer have to sort out items of clothing because the smell of sweat, the so-called "perma stink", can no longer be washed out even with disinfectant cleaner. I can keep favourite items in particular that are otherwise still in perfect condition for longer.
If you are looking for garments with polygiene technology, you can find some examples here:
How does odour protection work?
To neutralise unpleasant odours, Polygiene uses various methods:
Stay Fresh reduces bacterial growth with silver ions
For the Stay Fresh technology, Polygiene uses silver salt in the fabric. Silver has long been known for its antibacterial properties and is used in medicine to treat wounds, for example. The technology used by Polygiene does not utilise nanosilver, but silver chloride. The molecules are many times larger than the corresponding nano-silver particles and are firmly incorporated into the fabric. This means they are not washed out so easily.
Stay Fresh Bio relies on corn as a raw material
In order to create a plant-based alternative, Polygiene uses lactic acid obtained from fermented maize in Stay Fresh Bio. It is widely used in the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries.
Odor Crunch works with the help of silicic acid
Odor Crunch technology utilises the effect of silica, which can absorb oxygen, nitrogen and sulphur molecules. Silica is frequently found in nature, for example in sand and quartz. The silica splits the corresponding molecules so that they lose their odour-intensive properties. Polygiene received the sustainability award at the Scandinavian Outdoor Awards in 2019 for the Odor Crunch (named after the English word "crunch").
Odor Crunch can be incorporated into the fabric or sprayed on afterwards. I have treated some of my sports shirts with the Odor Crunch spray and am satisfied with the result. In my experience, the odour inhibition does not work quite as well as with shirts with Stay Fresh, i.e. with silver salts. Nevertheless, the shirts smell fresher for longer than without the spray.
Source: Siri Schubert
What you should consider with odour-inhibited clothing
The purpose of polygiene technologies is to keep clothes fresh for as long as possible and to wash them as little as possible. You should do the same. If you only wash when it's really necessary, the stink protection will last longer. Fabric softener is not recommended for functional clothing anyway. However, as some ingredients create a breeding ground for bacteria, you should definitely leave it out of clothing treated with polygiene products.
Drying in a tumble dryer is also not advisable. Allowing your clothes to air dry saves resources and ensures that the polygiene treatment lasts a long time.
In addition to clothing with polygiene technologies, there are also other products that rely on odour protection from Sweden.
Header image: Shutterstock
Research diver, outdoor guide and SUP instructor – I love being in, on and around water. Lakes, rivers and the ocean are my playgrounds. For a change of perspective, I look at the world from above while trail running or flying drones.
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