Synthetic fibers, such as polyester, are used in activewear for their ability to repel moisture.
Hello from Jennifer in London, where a chilly winter is dragging on. I’ve found wool clothes keep me warmest this time of the year. But there are other benefits to wearing natural fibers. More on that in a bit…
After a sweaty workout some of us may be inclined to toss our gym clothes aside in a rush to go about the day. Give it several days, and you may find your neglected pile of clothes smell worse than when you took them off.
Thankfully, as I recently found out, it’s not entirely your fault. Man-made fibers play a key role in intensifying the smelliest parts of you.
Synthetic fibers, such as polyester, are used in activewear for their ability to repel moisture, which leaves them drier than water-loving natural fibers like cotton. The downside? They love the “oil” secreted from our bodies, and cling onto odorous compounds well after sweat evaporates. In the end, a much more intense, possibly unrecognizable smell is left behind.
“We might not smell strongly of all of those compounds, they’re a tiny part of our overall odor bouquet,” says Rachel McQueen, a professor at the University of Alberta who researches the retention of odor in textiles. But as synthetics latch on to what scientists call nonpolar molecules, some of which stink, “polyester clothing smell different, more intense,” she says.
As a result you may find yourself washing your synthetic clothes more often. The problem is, the fibers cling onto oily secretions so well that they’re hard to launder out entirely. That’s why, according to McQueen, you may struggle to remove the grey soiling around the collar of a white polyester shirt.
In the end, “odor builds up in polyester because the laundry cycles never completely get rid of the compounds,” she says, though detergents are becoming better at handling the fabric.
There’s a downside to all that washing. It affects clothes’ longevity, not to mention shedding polluting microplastics in the process. There is also a shelf life for how effective a chemical treatment of a fabric is before it’s eventually washed out during laundering, says Edita Hadravska, a Vancouver-based product designer.
“You may have polyester yarn that had an antimicrobial bath during its finishing,’’ she says. “But if you wash it too many times, that chemical’s going to be stripped and you won’t have that effect — so you’ll go back to mega stink.”
By contrast, natural fibers, like merino wool and cotton, tend to stave off smell and need fewer washes. That’s partly because their ability to soak up moisture means they don’t absorb as much of these odorous compounds.
Mac Bishop, founder of Wool & Prince — an Oregon-based brand that creates merino wool clothing — is such a proponent of the fiber that in 2012 he wore a wool shirt for 100 days without washing to prove its durability and odor resistant properties. He raised more than $300,000 to launch the brand in the process.
“We’ve all experienced firsthand with smelly workout clothes, you put these things in the wash and you double the amount of detergent and it still comes out smelling,” he says. “Wool is better at basically absorbing the sweat before bacteria has a chance to break it down and turn it into odor.”
Still, it might be uncomfortable to work out in natural fiber clothing. Its hydrophilic or water-absorbing nature can leave the garments drenched and bulky — depending on how much you sweat.
Whatever you decide to wear, you may want to check the label on your gym clothes before forgetting to wash them after a workout. — Jennifer Creery
Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/