There is a worldwide sports craze going on as the Summer Olympics in Paris in 2024 get near. However, sweating excessively during strenuous summer workouts can cause sportswear to become tight and heavy, which can be uncomfortable and potentially affect performance. The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) School of Fashion and Textiles research team created the iActiveTM sportswear line, which uses nature-inspired, anti-heat textile fabrics to speed up sweat removal and effectively reduces the weight and stickiness of activewear caused by sweat accumulation during exercise.
Under the direction of Dr. Shou Dahua, an associate professor at PolyU’s School of Fashion and Textiles and the Limin Endowed Young Scholar in Advanced Textile Technologies, a research team has created the ground-breaking iActiveTM, intelligent, electrically activated sportswear featuring an active perspiration function inspired by nature.
Millions of sweat glands on the human body are essential for controlling body temperature because they release sweat, which evaporatively cools the skin’s surface. There will likely be a considerable rise in the number of extremely hot days per year as a result of continuing greenhouse gas emissions.
Dr. SHOU Dahua, an associate professor at PolyU’s School of Fashion and Textiles and the Limin Endowed Young Scholar in Advanced Textile Technologies, is leading a research team that created the ground-breaking iActiveTM sportswear, which is intelligent and electrically activated with an active perspiration function inspired by nature.
Its nature-inspired technologies can actively and programmably remove sweat to a perspiration dissipater at the lower region of the sportswear. These technologies include low-voltage-driven artificial “sweat glands” created by skin-like anti-heat textile fabrics and a root-like branching liquid transport system that aligns with the body’s sweat map.
His research team has also developed a premium fabric named Omni-Cool-Dry™, drawing inspiration from volcano dwelling beetles. This fabric not only provides ultra-fast sweat dissipation and ensures all-day comfort with its dry and breathable features under dynamic thermal conditions, but also reflects solar radiation and emits body heat into the cold universe, enabling passive cooling.
Dr Shou Dahua, a core member of the PolyU Research Institute for Intelligent Wearable Systems and the Research Centre of Textiles for Future Fashion, has recently been bestowed with the 2023 Distinguished Achievement Award by the Fiber Society for his outstanding contributions to the fields of personal thermal and moisture management, intelligent wearables and soft robotics. The accolade is presented annually to an individual researcher worldwide.
