The new shirt is an example of a growing area of clothes created from nanotechnology. The resultant nanofabrics are either constructed from nanoscopic fibers called nanofibers, or they are formed by applying a solution containing nanoparticles to a regular fabric. While nanofabrics for use in the clothing and textiles industry is still in its early stages, one company has succeeded in bringing a product to market, based on a chemical routine to develop polyethylene superhydrophobic and thus a material that is self-cleaning.
According to Mavis Jiang, the Marketing Director of MicroNovelty, in communication with Digital Journal: “Men’s work wear sucks. Either it looks great but isn’t breathable and sucks up stains, or it’s as cheap as it looks.” By using nanofiber technology, Fiber Secret have designed a shirt that can to repel water and stains. For this, the designers were inspired by the self-cleaning lotus leaf (the “lotus effect”).
The lotus effect refers to self-cleaning properties that are a result of ultrahydrophobicity as exhibited by the leaves of Nelumbo or “lotus flower”. With this effect, dirt particles are collected by water droplets due to the micro- and nanoscopic architecture on the surface, which minimizes the droplet’s adhesion to that surface.
Investigations into the surface of the lotus leaf using reflection electron microscopy (where a reflected beam of elastically scattered electrons is detected) have revealed that the surface of the leaf is not even and instead has a characteristic roughness composed of systematically arranged, water-repellent, nano-size wax crystals which come together to form three-dimensional structures, no greater than a few nanometers in size.
Based on these inquiries into nature, creating new fibers and modifying existing ones, both natural and synthetic-made, through the use of nanotechnology offers huge potential to precisely engineer fibers for a new generation of clothing. With the Lotusshirt, nanotech fabric of the garment was designed to mimic the hydrophobic structure of the lotus leaf. With its special material, the outside surface holds back water and resists stains, while the inside surface acts as a wick, leaving the shirt dry on the inside.
In addition, the clothing does not wrinkle and requires no ironing and it is designed to be breathable. This is based on patented ‘Flying Fish’ breathable underarm netting. Some of these features are described in the following video:
The Lotushirt was sent to Digital Journal for review and tested out by a relative of this journalist: a working barista from St. Albans, U.K. The barista was impressed with the shirt, commentating: “It’s lightweight; a very easy to wear shirt. It feels very comfortable.”
He also added: “It’s a very stylish shirt, suitable for work or leisure. It’s made from amazing material, kind of feels like cotton but I know it isn’t. I like the idea I can drop anything onto it, like coffee, and it will just roll off.”
While the Lotushirt feels like a cotton blend it is not. The shirt is fashioned from a type of polyester (80 percent) together with a proprietary material called “memory yarn”, which imparts the stretchability. The shirt retains breathable properties all day due to there being more than a million micro holes within the fabric.
Lotushirt will be launched later in April 2018.
