A Fabric That Smells Better The More You Sweat

citronella

Playing outdoors and sweat go hand in hand but nobody likes to smell bad at the end of the day. To tackle our naturally occurring stink, many brands currently incorporate anti-microbial materials into their fabrics such as wool or silver. But scientists in Portugal have taken a different approach and turned our sweat into a sweet smelling citronella fragrance instead.

Two scientist at the Centre of Biological Engineering at the University of Minho in Portugal recently released a paper outlining the process of creating a sweat-activated scent-release fabric. They found two different ways to bind a citronella scent with cotton fibers so that as you start to sweat, the fragrance is released either quickly or more slowly depending on method. As some may be put off by the strong smell of citronella, just remember that the smell also deters mosquitos so it’s a two-for-one textile.

While promising, this seems to me more of a Febreeze approach. Instead of preventing the build up of odor causing bacteria like wool and silver does, this method simply covers the smell with fragrance. And I am not sure I want to go around smelling like a citronella candle, though there could be worse options.

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