Vancouver company creates odorless sportswear from crab and shrimp shells – BC
LOOK: It’s always been the nastiest side effect of staying in shape: those workout clothes that end up smelling like a locker room. A local company claims to have solved this problem with its new line of sportswear. Linda Aylesworth reports.
A new sportswear company in Vancouver has come up with new technology that will prevent your sportswear from smelling like, well, sportswear.
“I don’t know about you, but I got this shirt that you wash, wash and wash and it’s still kinda awesome,” says Meghan Conyers, one of the founders of Strongbody Apparel.
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This foul smell is courtesy of micrococci, bacteria that particularly like synthetic fabrics like polyester, the material from which much of today’s exercise equipment is made. Some manufacturers try to reduce the problem by impregnating their products with antimicrobials like triclosan or silver chloride.
Strongbody Apparel, meanwhile, uses a substance known as Chitosante, named after chitin, an antimicrobial found in crab and shrimp shells.
According to Conyers, Chitosante has many practical applications.
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“It has multiple uses, in biomedical engineering and in biopesticides,” she says. “It’s non-toxic. There are supplements made from it and now they also use it in the textile industry.
Currently, Strongbody sells most of its odorless clothing online. These are clothes that don’t come cheap – $ 104 for a men’s shorts and $ 88 for a Chitosante-treated shirt – but they’re confident they’ll find their market.
– with files by Linda Aylesworth