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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. "[iAc.

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