The Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games are just around the corner and a global sports frenzy is underway. However, intense summer workouts often lead to sportswear absorbing excessive sweat, becoming clingy and cumbersome, causing discomfort and potentially impacting performance. The human body has millions of glands that are vital for regulating body temperature by dissipating sweat for evaporation to cool the skin's surface.
With unabating , the number of very hot days annually is expected to increase significantly. This will lead to elevated energy consumption and increased sweating during and outdoor labor. Even when wearing highly breathable clothes with good sweat-wicking properties, individuals may still experience discomfort due to excessive sweat accumulation.
A research team from the School of Fashion and Textiles at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has developed the iActive sportswear range which features a root-like liquid transport system and a skin-like active perspiration dissipater and utilizes nature-inspired, anti-heat textile fabrics to expedite sweat removal, effectively reducing the weight and stickiness of activewear caused by sweat accumulation during exercise. Its nature-inspired technologies, including low-voltage-driven artificial " " created by skin-like anti-heat textile fabrics and a root-like branching liquid that aligns with the body's sweat map, can actively and programmably remove sweat to a perspiration dissipater at the lower region.
