By Cid Cardoso, Jr.
Does your favorite running shirt have a perm stink? Do you feel like your top that you’ve been wearing for years is just not wicking the moisture like it did when you first got it? If so, then the problem could be with your clothing detergent.
Performance or technical fibers, like Coolmax®, Nike’s Dri-Fit®, eVent® and others, were developed years ago and have revolutionized all sports, from Golf to Triathlons. By keeping the athlete drier during exercise, these fabrics can drastically improve performance by decreasing chaffing, regulating the body’s temperature (thus helping prevent overheating in hot weather and hypothermia in cold weather), and improving overall comfort. These things are achieved mainly by a moisture management system know as wicking, where open ended fibers in the fabric move moisture from the inner layers of the apparel that are close to the skin to the outer layers where they can more easily evaporate.
Some of us still cringe when we remember the days when we used to do long runs in long sleeve t shirts and dealt with chaffing in weird parts and all the extra weight of soaked cotton. Those days are long gone as performance apparel has evolved to new levels. However, have the detergents kept up pace? Do performance fibers require different care in the wash or type of detergent (besides not drying them in the drier)? Penguin Brands, Inc says yes and their answer is Sport-Wash®. The reasoning is that common detergents leave residues in all clothing fibers and these residues “clog” the fibers in technical apparel thus interfering with the wicking process.
According to Penguin Brands, the common detergents are actually designed to leave these residues in the form of artificial scents, color brightness and fabric softeners, which are desired by consumers of ordinary or casual clothing. These
residues, not only decrease the technical fibers ability to wick but trap additional moisture that can cause bacteria to grow thus causing odors. They list a study from Clemson University School of Textiles, Fiber & Polymer Science where it was shown that after 8 washes in regular clothing detergent technical fibers had accumulated 2% of its weight in residues.
I’ve been wearing technical apparel for over 15 years. With three active kids between the ages of 12 and 7, we’re constantly doing laundry. In the interest of time, everything gets washed in regular detergent. Have I noticed a significant decrease in moisture management from older apparel? Not really. Have I stopped wearing some older pieces because they don’t feel as good? Yes. More noticeable though, some pieces do seem to develop what we call a perma stink…especially older running shirts and cycling gloves. Occasionally even after they are just washed, I throw them back in the laundry because they still have a weird smell. With that in mind, I decided to give the Penguin Brands, Inc.’s Sports-Wash® a try.
I washed a load containing running shirts, cycling shirts that I use in the indoor trainer and bike gloves. Just to see if it was practical, I also threw in some regular cloth as well. The result was somewhat non conclusive. Stuff got washed just like before. I wore jerseys and tops to see if I could notice an improvement in comfort or in wicking or performance but could not tell a difference. I washed it again using the Sports-Wash® and again had basically the same results. (I obviously knew that it would be unlikely that I would be able to feel a difference in wicking based on all the variables and on the unscientific nature of my experiment, but I went for it anyway).
I kind of thought that the bike gloves and the rest of the clothing came out smelling better but my wife said she could not tell the difference. So next I decided to do a blind head to head test…wash one glove, one sock, a pair of bike shorts and a tri top with regular detergent and the other glove, the other sock, a pair of tri shorts and a bike jersey with the Sports Wash®. The result this time was more conclusive. The stuff washed by the Sports-Wash® did come out smelling better. I even enlisted my three kids (who have more sensitive noses than me) and my wife to vote and the result was 5-0 for the Sports-Wash®. The cloth washed with the Sports-Wash actually did not smell like flowers or like an Irish Spring day…it just didn’t have the perma funk.
Penguin Brands, Inc. claims that the Sports-Wash® will prolong the life of our high performance technical fibers. I personally could not test for that but I suppose conceptually that is not too far fetched. Current detergent manufacturers already make distinctions between certain types of apparel when washing (delicates vs. regulars, colored vs. white) so a specialty detergent for specialty fibers could be reasonable. It is also designated as “readily biodegradable”, which basically means that it breaks down faster than most detergents therefore it is better for the environment. At $9.99 for a 20 oz bottle, the cost is over 4 times as much per oz as a regular detergent such as Tide 2X Ultra Liquid Clean Breeze that sells for $11.99 for a100 oz bottle. Nevertheless, if it will get rid of the funk on your favorite shirt, or on an $80 cycling jersey and $20 pair of gloves, it may be worth it, even if you have to take the time to split the load between technical and regular apparel and use it for your technical fibers only.
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Cid Cardoso, Jr., owner of Inside Out Sports, has been doing triathlons for over twenty years. Last October, he competed in his 21st Ironman – his sixth appearance at Kona. A veteran of ultramarathons, he has competed in Team RAAM twice. He has seen equipment evolve with the sport and continues to test new products to assess their impact on performance. He trains, works, and resides in Cary, NC, with his wife, two daughters, and son. You can reach him at cidjr@insideoutsports.com.
