Is Antimicrobial Clothing Safe and Effective?

What Does Antimicrobial Clothing Do?

The primary function of antimicrobial fabric and antimicrobial clothing is odor control, which is perfect for incorporating into activewear. Laundering alone does little to combat the persistent stench of your favorite activewear, so the more it smells, the more you wash it. It’s easy to see how clothing deteriorates quickly in this cycle as you try to fight the growth of microbes that are causing your odor.

Antimicrobial fabric and antimicrobial clothing, on the other hand, helps prevent those odor-causing bacteria from ever taking root. They capture the offensive odors within a protective barrier, shielding the "stink" until washing. This keeps your activewear smelling fresher between washes and prevents that baked-in stench that happens when you continue working out in and laundering clothing with permastink.

Is Antimicrobial Clothing Safe and Effective?

Microban® offers comprehensive odor control technologies for activewear and other textiles that meet your requirements for antimicrobial efficacy, wash durability, processing conditions and cost effectiveness. We do that by working directly with our partners to design an intelligent solution for effective antimicrobial fabric and antimicrobial clothing that has a history of safe use.

After discussing objectives, our team of engineers will create the best-suited additives by experimenting with an array of formulations to identify the specific chemical components your activewear needs to counteract microbial reproduction and odors. We also help partners with everything from patent counseling to regulatory approvals – meaning your antimicrobial fabric and antimicrobial clothing will be proven to be effective for consumers per industry standards and rigorous testing that mimics daily wear and tear in addition to having a history of safe use.

We have a long list of respected partners that have successfully leveraged our industry-leading odor control apparel product technologies. It’s not just companies that recognize the added value that Microban provides to activewear and other textiles. In a recent study, 92% of consumers said they would be interested in purchasing antimicrobial clothing like activewear with Microban protection.1

As activewear continues to grow in popularity, more brands are turning to Microban to incorporate antimicrobial solutions that control odors to provide quality antimicrobial clothing with a history of safe use to consumers. You can read more about it in our “Scentry® and ZPTech®: A Bifunctional, Effective, and Durable Odor Solution for Polyester Activewear” white paper!

Sources:

  1. Toluna Research: Omnibus Study (February 2013)