PDA

View Full Version : The smell of success



thedrifter
01-02-07, 07:10 AM
Posted on Tue, Jan. 02, 2007

ODOR-REPELLING CLOTHES | Silver coating is the key
The smell of success

SCRANTON, Pa. | Bill McNally believes he has found a silver bullet for keeping the stink out of your socks, not to mention your underwear, workout clothes and hiking and hunting gear.

McNally’s company, Scranton-based Noble Biomaterials, embeds silver in clothing worn by U.S. troops, elite athletes and weekend warriors alike — thus capitalizing on the precious metal’s increasing popularity as a way to keep clothes smelling fresh, even after multiple wears without a wash.

Noble is among a handful of companies that produce silver-coated textiles for use in the burgeoning market for high-tech performance clothing. The 10-year-old, privately held company’s sales have grown an average of 50 percent per year and doubled in the last 18 months.

Silver kills odor-causing bacteria. It also redistributes body heat, keeping the wearer warm in cold weather and cool in hot weather.

Noble has licensed X-Static to more than 300 companies, including Adidas, Umbro, Puma, Polartec and other apparel makers.

U.S. soldiers and Marines already wear X-Static socks and T-shirts, which provide “olfactory camouflage” as well as a first line of defense against shrapnel wounds, because any of the silver fabric that becomes embedded in the wound “actually starts treating the wound,” according to McNally, the company founder and a former Marine.
| The Associated Press

Ellie