Antimicrobial interest increased by cool wash trend
29/11/2011
This is the main finding of recent research from one antimicrobial technology provider, Microban.
According to Microban, to destroy most pathogenic bacteria, a laundering temperature of 60 degrees Celsius for 15 minutes is needed, and to kill the majority of the bacterial population, this must be increased to 30 minutes at the same temperature, or five minutes at a much higher temperature, 90 degrees.
“New, cooler and shorter wash cycles can create issues for sportswear designers and manufacturers when it comes to combating sweat odours,” Microban said on announcing the results of its research. “An added complication is that certain textile yarns commonly used in sportswear cannot be laundered at higher temperatures.”
During a survey the company carried out in Europe, 61% of users regularly or occasionally found that their sportswear had persistent stale odours after washing at low temperatures. Also, 91% of the same sample said they had experienced a loss of freshness during sporting activities.
Paul McDonnell, managing director at Microban Europe, said that campaigns to save energy by using lower temperature washing had been under way for a number of years and the practice was accepted in many households and heavily promoted by appliance and detergent manufacturers.
He explained: “While there is a strong energy saving argument, the fact is that repeated washing of performance sportswear garments at 30 or even 40 degrees is just not hot enough to kill the vast majority of bacteria. Over time, there is a build-up on sportswear and for most users the main issue is persistent odour that lingers on regularly used kit. For this reason we are seeing a growing interest in antibacterial solutions from the sportswear sector. There is an increasing awareness that bacterial accumulation leading to odour is an issue and to incorporate some kind of proven antibacterial technology into garments during manufacturing is an obvious solution.”
Mr McDonnell added that the popularity of 30- and 40-degree laundering was also creating issues for washing machine manufacturers, where a build up of bacteria over time within the machine was a recognised problem, creating mould and odour.
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