Breakthrough sportswear to make it no sweat at all

Alysha Bibi

In a breakthrough for activewear technology, researchers at Polytechnic University have developed electrically-activated sportswear that can dissipate sweat at a rate three times faster than the maximum human sweating capacity.

The visionary behind this breakthrough is Shou Dahua, associate professor at the School of Fashion and Textiles.

Dubbed "iActive," the smart sportswear range features a "root-like liquid transport system" and a "skin-like active perspiration dissipater" that expedite sweat removal in the form of droplets, effectively reducing the weight and stickiness of activewear during exercise.

The strategically placed micro-scale channels and valves at the back of iActive garments are designed to detect perspiration building up on the skin's surface and then rapidly wick away that moisture.

"Currently the root-like pattern is at the back [of the garments] since the sweating rate there is very high," he said.

Optimization of iActive possibilities is under study, and the team can develop more patents based on applications to other parts of the body that have the propensity to sweat a lot.

Shou said even highly breathable sportswear currently on the market are unable to provide maximum comfort due to the excessive accumulation of sweat.

"We invited athletic and sports champions to tell us where the bottlenecks are, the challenges with [current] sportswear and we got a lot of useful feedback, such as garments becoming very heavy and sticky," he said.

"[iActive] sweat dissipation is different from conventional sportswear, because [iActive activewear] releases droplets, and one droplet contains millions of water molecules, that's why its sweat dissipation is much faster than evaporation and drying of conventional garments," Shou added.

Textile materials in iActive are also 60 percent lighter and 50 percent less clingy.

The lightweight perspiration device at the bottom of an iActive piece of clothing needs to be connected to a power source or battery to operate, with an output voltage of only about 5V to 9V - lower than the usual human tolerance to electric currents.

A mobile app has also been designed for users to precisely dictate which of five sweat dissipation rates they want.

"If we scale up and manufacture it in factories, we expect it to cost around HK$800," Shou said.

He also said that iActive's breakthrough technology can be incorporated for protective clothing and workwear worn by those in physically demanding occupations, such as health care, construction, firefighting and law enforcement, significantly enhancing their comfort and performance.

This pioneering innovation has been awarded the Gold Medal at the 49th International Exhibition of Inventions Geneva in April.