When we think
of drugs and other medicinal treatments, we normally think of tablets,
capsules, creams, ointments and injections. However advances in fabric and yarn
technologies have spurned a whole new world of treatment dispensing
opportunities – technologies that improve our quality of life.
Back in the
early 90’s IFT plc was asked by Le Coq Sportif to develop a new fabric to
celebrate the signing of their new tennis star, Justine Henin and hopefully one
that would help to improve her performance. We realised that Le Coq Sportif
wanted something special and as a small company trying to make its mark in the
sportswear industry, we put our thinking caps on to see what we could come up
with.
Having
scratched our heads and brainstormed the idea, taking ideas from the shop floor
right through to the HR department, we eventually agreed
on an innovation that we thought might interest Le Coq Sportif.
Our research revealed
that Henin had very sensitive skin, so we began exploring the concept of a fabric
that would moisturise her skin whilst she was playing tennis. We started to
investigate if and how we could coat some of our sportswear fabrics with known
moisturisers such as Aloe Vera or Squalene. After a few stops and starts, we
discovered that the best way forward was to capture microscopic amounts of the
moisturiser in an egg like capsule which could then be applied to the fabric. When worn, the fragile microscopic structures
on the surface of the fabric would be broken, releasing the moisturiser on to
the skin.
The good news
is that Le Coq Sportif loved both the idea and the fabric and the company received
a personal note from the tennis star herself - which took pride of place in the
company’s trophy cabinet!
It was hard
to prove whether the technology was helping her to play better tennis, but our
breakthrough spurred us on to investigate other technologies that could treat
skin and improve the quality of life of the wearer.
The company’s
second breakthrough was a skin friendly and natural insect repellent which
could be applied to textiles. When worn, the garment delivers long lasting
insect repellent properties for the wearer and negates the need for smelly
lotions and sprays.
In the last
10 years, we have managed to refine our expertise and have been able to turn
our attention to the major issue of damaged skin conditions such as eczema.
Today, the
unique polymer that is used in the eczema soothing range of Dreamskin garments
is probably the most advanced example of incorporating a technology into a
fabric to deliver a medicinal treatment.
