ARC Outdoors, a leader in performance apparel and known for its ArcticShield® cold-weather clothing brand, today announced a new line of anti-odor fabrics and yarns to be sold under the E47 Nano Technology brand. The brand will offer advanced anti-odor fiber technologies for licensing by other manufacturers.
Anti-Odor Fibers Finally Perfected
To date, most anti-odor technologies have relied on chemical treatments as their antimicrobial component, while other technologies have come in the form of silver strand or silver-coated fibers. But, such fibers lack effectiveness and durability while causing manufacturing challenges and limitations. They often affect the comfort, flexibility, elasticity, wicking and insulation properties of fabrics. At the same time, many such fibers can add complexity to manufacturing processes, increasing production time, which ultimately leads to high costs.
E47 Nano Technology was co-developed to be safe, permanent and to utilize the oligodynamic effects silver has on microbes. The advancements come from silver nanoparticles integrated throughout the entire fiber, not just on the surface. This integrated technology is designed to create accelerated ion flux delivered through nanoscale particles to eliminate microbes and the odors they create.
E47 cotton represents a breakthrough in technology-based fabrics. E47 cotton fabrics will impact todays standards and benchmarks for performance-based apparel.
Fibers integrated with E47 technology retain all of the natural qualities of polyester and cotton fabrics, making them ideal for performance wear without complicating manufacturing processes or changing the look and feel that consumers appreciate.
Nanotechnology Makes It Possible
“E47s anti-odor properties are generated by nanoscale-engineered silver-bearing nanoparticles which permanently bond to specific target fibers at the molecular level,” said NanoHorizons Director of Operations Daniel Hayes, PhD. “The antimicrobial functionality of E47 fibers is uniformly distributed throughout the fiber and specifically engineered not to flake off, rub off, or wash out leaving all the other properties of the fiber unchanged.”
New Fibers and Fabrics to be Featured at Outdoor Retailer
The creators of E47 are keying on polyester and cotton fabrics for clothing as the first offering, but understand that demand will redefine their course on specific developments throughout the textile industry. A better grasp for market demand will be obtained shortly after E47s introduction at the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market in Salt Lake City, Aug. 11-14, 2005, booth 6622.
“The outdoor recreation market has seen great advances in activity-related apparel over the last few years, but nothing compares to new nanotechnology-based capabilities, such as E47s anti-odor properties that are permanently integrated into fibers,” said ARC Executive Vice President Rus Huffstutler. “In addition, E47 fibers will give apparel manufacturers a powerful new ingredient to leverage in their performance wear.”
Real-World Testing
To reflect every-day situations and real-world scenarios for active-wear, E47 fibers were put through a six-hour effectiveness tests. To ensure accuracy, the independent biomedical testing company NAMSA was engaged. In NAMSAs tests, E47 antimicrobial additives were exceptionally effective in controlling common microbes, such as diphtheria (corynebacterium diphtheriae) and staph (staphylococcus aureus).
