Staying fresh when the sun starts shining and things heat up can be tricky. We have all experienced that sticky, sweaty feeling. And we all know it often leads to unpleasant odors and bad smells in our clothing. Shirts are one of the worst offenders, so many consumers are turning to anti-odor shirts and relying on antibacterial technology to keep them smelling their best.
Whether you are making an important presentation at work, three days into a week-long hiking adventure, or protecting your skin with a sun shirt, you don’t want to have to deal with a smelly shirt. Fortunately, innovative antimicrobial textile technologies mean you don’t have to.
Antibacterial shirts are made from materials with naturally occurring antibacterial properties or feature protection from anantibacterial additive or ingredient. Bacteria are responsible for many of the unpleasant smells we associate with unwashed clothing and cause a wide range of bad odors in clothing. By preventing bacterial growth, antibacterial shirts eliminate these smells, keeping the wearer fresher and odor-free for longer.
Antibacterial shirts are well-suited to everyday wear but also excel in various niche applications. They are particularly popular in athletic wear, outdoor clothing, and travel apparel, as they provide highly desirable performance benefits to consumers. For this reason, antibacterial technology is becoming increasingly popular in sun shirts and similar protective apparel.
Antibacterial technology benefits consumers in several ways and is particularly valuable in shirts for the following reasons:
By keeping shirts fresher for longer, antimicrobial technology ensures consumers can wear them for longer without having to wash them. While less frequent washing has important environmental benefits (more on that later), it also has practical implications. It makes anti-odor shirts particularly well-suited to contexts where they are worn for extended periods, such as multi-day hikes, outdoor activities, and holidays, as well as sports and exercise.
Less frequent washing also means shirts are more environmentally friendly, as consumers utilize fewer resources caring for them. This can mean big reductions in energy and water consumption – a recent LifeCycle Assessment (LCA) for a Polygiene-treated T-shirt demonstrated that skipping every other wash reduced the garment’s total environmental impact by a third.
But consumers don’t just save water and electricity. They also benefit from time and money savings. The same LifeCycle Assessment detailed above also revealed that skipping every other wash freed up the equivalent of four full days every year – giving people more time to spend on the things they love.
Washing machines and dryers cause a reasonable amount of damage to textiles and clothing, shortening their expected lifespan and making them wear out more quickly. If consumers don’t need to wash their shirts as much, the products last longer, making them a more sustainable option and saving customers money.
In recent years, sun shirts have been one of the most impressive growth areas in the antimicrobial garment market. As consumers become increasingly knowledgeable about the dangers of the sun and skin damage, interest in innovative protection products is also growing.
Whereas regular shirts offer minimal protection from the sun, antibacterial sun shirts boast a higher thread count and often include treatments that block a significant proportion of UV rays. As such, athletes, hikers, bikers and outdoor enthusiasts of all types are using them to improve sun protection when outside for extended periods. Casual users are also adopting them for everyday wear and holidays in the sun.
However, due to their protective nature and the environment in which they are required (lots of sun usually means it’s hot), sun shirts can get sweaty and smelly quickly. And that is where antimicrobial technology comes into play. By eliminating the single biggest issue with sun shirt design, antimicrobial protection makes them more effective, desirable, and valuable. It is an excellent example of how antimicrobial solutions are changing shirt design and the way we think about textile performance.
Polygiene StayFresh is our industry-leading antimicrobial textile additive and the core technology behind many antibacterial shirt brands. Integrated into fabrics at the point of manufacture, it provides 24/7 protection for a product’s entire lifespan, keeping garments fresh between cleans and helping consumers stay odor-free. The solution is entirely skin-safe and based on silver chloride – a salt that occurs naturally in water and soil.
The technology works to prevent bacterial growth on three levels.
As Polygiene StayFresh is IN textiles, not ON them, it does not leach or wash away, and application requires no additional water or energy, making it the sustainable choice.
For the above reasons, many clothing brands already work with Polygiene and utilize Polygiene StayFresh in their shirts. These include:
T-shirt
Men’s Dart T-shirt
Hooded Fishing Shirt
Men’s SolAir Hooded Long Sleeve Shirt
Training Shirt
KLValerie Ladies Training Shirt
Technical Hiking Shirt
Men’s Hancock Shirt
Lightweight Crew
Core Lightweight Crew LS
If you believe your brand’s shirts and other clothing items could benefit from the odor control and antimicrobial protection provided by Polygiene StayFresh, get in touch with the Polygiene team to discuss your needs. You can also learn more about the solution on the Polygiene StayFresh solution page.
