QUALITIES OF LIFE
Sly-Tech clothing
It dodges stains, repels sweat and can even play your MP3 tunes
By Judy Hevrdejs

You can buy apparel that battles bugs, fights the sun's UV rays, tackles icky perspiration stains, repels water and red wine while resisting wrinkling.

There are jackets wired for your MP3 player and sporting a fabric keypad on the sleeve. There are clothes that tame the human scent of hunters. And by February, women will be able to shop for camisoles that soothe with aloe vera.

Do they work? Apparently they do.

That there is so much easy-care clothing in stores these days can be credited in part to nanotechnology, the buzzword du jour in all sorts of areas. In the case of apparel, nanotechnology shows up in everything from outerwear to underwear and involves fiddling around with fibers and fabrics and finishes at the molecular level.

Yet that's not the only reason that so much of this stuff is out there. It is the time-crunched among us who deserve a chunk of credit as well, say those who spend big time and big money on consumer research. There is a growing demand for comfortable and stylish clothing that is also easy care. Today's souped-up clothing is a far cry from the double-knits of the '70s and your granddaddy's perma press. They feel better. They work better. And they're all over the place.

Check the clothing at your J.C. Penney, Sears, Target, Gap, Banana Republic, Marshall Field's--you name it. Flip through a Lands' End or Eddie Bauer catalog.

At Nordstrom, such smart stuff shows up in wide variety of apparel, from the washable wool Tecnofleece coats by Kristen Blake to the Red Label merino wool sweaters for men due in stores next month. In fact, the washable suede clothing line by Bernardo for men and women is so popular that the retailer regularly holds trunk shows, said Amy Lippencott, the retailer's eastern regions manager, based in Oak Brook. "Bernardo is a huge portion of the sportswear and coat business in women's."

At Orvis in Chicago, Buzz Off clothing, which uses a substance from chrysanthemums to repel insects, is a hit not only with sports enthusiasts but with travelers as well.

"A lot of people going to Africa or going on expeditions to different locations around the world seem to really enjoy it," said store manager Brett James. "We have a lot of repeat customers."

James, 25, counts himself among the believers. He wore a long-sleeve T-shirt and convertible pants when he taught a fly-fishing course near Mineral Point, Wis. this past summer. "I was skeptical. But I was the only one with Buzz Off, and I had no problem with mosquitoes and no-see-ums."

In fact, our team of Q testers also found that many of these "smart" clothes and "intelligent" fabrics lived up to their label promises when we put them through their paces.

Lots to do

Today's consumers "are busier" than ever and that is spurring demand, said Linda Kearns, spokeswoman for Invista, the Wilmington, Del.-based maker of products such as stretchy Lycra and moisture-wicking Coolmax.

"They're looking for greater convenience. And they're looking for clothes that will last longer, be more durable and stay looking good longer," she said.

Added Peter Kjome, who manages stain-battler Scotchguard's apparel business for St. Paul-based 3M, "They want to save time washing clothes."

"If we had offered somebody in the 1950s stain-repellent and wrinkle-repellent clothes, they would have loved to have it. The needs haven't changed, but our expectations have changed as science has evolved," said Rebecca L. Davis, an associate professor in fashion and textiles program at California State University at Los Angeles. "Science has evolved to meet what the consumer has wanted."

Science and technology have made finishes on fabrics more durable and effective. They have moved Teflon from water-repellent outerwear to stain-fighting everyday clothing. They have rehabbed the double-knits and ditched the waxy feeling found in old wrinkle-resistant shirts.

Coming up with innovative textiles is one thing. Getting people to wear them is another.

That, insists Scotchguard's Kjome, involves delivering fit, style and color--core factors, he calls them--as well as stain protection. "We are very conscious that we are adding features on top of those core things that consumers really care about."

Added Robert Kirkwood, Invista apparel director, "What we see in textiles is the successful combination of fashion--the style, the drape, the comfort and the feel people expect from their clothing--with functionality or performance. It's what the old polyester promised but what no one really liked wearing."

All this innovation doesn't surprise Peter Hauser, an associate professor in the textile, engineering, chemistry and science department at North Carolina State University in Raleigh.

Marketing's a factor

Although new technologies, many out only in the last several years, have been one impetus, he said, "there is [also] a renewed emphasis by the apparel manufacturers to come up with something new and improved. It's marketing. But it's marketing with good science."

So what's coming up?

Buzz Off clothing, which battles mosquitoes, ticks, ants, flies, chiggers and midges, plans to expand its line next spring and roll out jeans for men. The product, from Ex Officio, a Seattle-based firm specializing in clothing for travel and the outdoors, arrived in stores only last fall.

"We teamed up with a company called Buzz Off Insect Shields based out of North Carolina who had come up with an active ingredient that you can adhere to apparel. And they were just in the process of getting EPA registration on it," said Jainine Robertson, an Ex Officio spokeswoman. "We create the garments and they, through a patent-pending process, adhere the active ingredient to our fabric's fibers."

Prefer clothing that battles odor? Or maybe moisturizes as you wear it? Some new socks using Invista's moisture-wicking Coolmax are incorporating a new odor-managing component called Fresh FX; they're already in Defeet cycling socks.

Also in stores: moisturizing socks from MediPeds that soothe with aloe vera, thanks to Lycra Body Care technology that involves micro-beads. Next February, Olga will roll out its "Smooth Benefits" intimates collection with camisoles and panties featuring aloe-enriched fabric, thanks to Lycra Body Care technology.

As such products become more widely available, the price drops, and that pleases Davis, a mother of two children.

"For a lot of these products, you're not paying a big premium," she said, citing Gap and Old Navy clothing she bought for her daughters ("they are much softer than I expected") and 100 percent polyester pants purchased for her husband.

"Ten years ago we wouldn't have seen 100 percent polyester men's dress pants," she said. "They're nice looking. Not like the double knits of the '70s--that was sort of a death knell for polyester for almost a generation."

The pink beverage test

But these products spell hope for moms like Karine Greene. When a friend whose husband worked for a firm that did work for Nano-Tex, a North Carolina-based company that has invented some of these fabrics, asked Greene to have her boys test-drive some clothing, she admitted she was doubtful.

She took her two sons, 5-year-old Tyler and 3-year-old Daniel, to a kids birthday party, expecting the sort of cuisine-versus-clothing disasters rampant at such affairs, especially because her sons, dressed in the test clothing button-down white oxford shirts and khakis from Old Navy, arrived at a gathering that featured pink beverages and make-your-own ice cream sundaes.

"My youngest son had a huge thing of chocolate syrup, and it just went all down the front. And I thought, this thing is just going to set and stain," recalled the 34-year-old mom from Burlingame, Calif. "But with a napkin, I just wiped it off.

"A lot of times you see things on the market, and you think, it's a little gimmicky," she said. "Those clothes actually washed up beautifully."

Source: October 17, 2004 Issue of the Chicago Tribune