the garden of eden might get crowded

I am beginning to think that we should all return to the Garden of Eden. The following article demonstrates to me that the Hohenstein Institute is an organization that creates perceived problems and then tries to provide a solution for these perceived problems that do not exist.

Do textiles remain skin-friendly and odourless when confronted with sweat during the heat of summer?

Are you people who work at cotton incorporated aware of this? After animal skins I can only guess that cotton was the next material used to cover the human body. Is it possible that for thousands of years people were wearing garments that were made from a textile material that was not skin friendly?

Perspiration is an unavoidable part of many sporting, working and everyday situations. Therefore, the question arises of how skin-friendly textiles remain when subjected to increased levels of perspiration during wear. And, can modern textiles reduce the smell of sweat? The Hohenstein Group looks at this area of textile knowledge and provides the textile industry with helpful research results and tailored measurement methods to answer these questions.

When does perspiration not exist? Does it only exist when you are active in “many” but not all sports? Is it only present when working or in everyday situations, but not all? I guess the writer does not know that the body perspires 100 percent of the time. Modern synthetic textiles made from synthetic materials actually promote odor versus cotton of wool fabrics not so much. But then again odor is going to happen, so what the HoHo institute is doing is trying to quite easily extract money from textile firms that it is possible to eliminate odor if you deal with us. WE will tell you how!

BÖNNIGHEIM (blb) As the temperature rises, human beings produce more sweat. Heat puts the body under great strain, which can reach dangerous levels - especially for the elderly. That is why the Hohenstein Institute has put together consumer guidelines with behaviour and protection measures, as well as recommendations for clothing that also take physiological findings from “body mapping” into account.

If heat puts the human body under great strain, how come people who live on the equator are still alive and have been for centuries. This holds true for desert people such as we find in the Middle East. Need I give more examples? Immediately you can see that they are so cock-sure of themselves they have already put together recommendations.

There is also the question of whether textiles convince consumers in terms of safety (skin compatibility) and performance (odor management). Hohenstein has been investigating questions regarding clothing that is worn close to the body: How skin-friendly are the textiles? And: To what extent do the textiles reduce sweat odor?

Once again their fixation on odor controls! Imagine “investigating” clothing worn close to the body. It is as if this is a new way of wearing clothing. Have you ever thought that maybe the fabric used to make the clothing you wear as being “friendly”? Never occurred to me. Do textiles reduce sweat odor, no but the sweat if it is odorous will retain the odor, it will not nor can it reduce the odor.

Certified test series offer textile manufacturers the opportunity to test the skin compatibility and odor management of textiles from the development phase onwards.

Who “certified” these tests? Was there someone or some other organization that was involved previously and if so why did HoHo have to get involved? What if it is discovered that that skin was not capable of being next to skin; what can we wear? New term “odor management”< how do you do that? HoHo knows!

The skin compatibility test uses laboratory conditions to test live cells and record adverse effects of toxins that could be released from the sample material by sweat. The method allows evaluation of the danger that could be posed by damage to the skin cells.

I believe the toxins referred too are all of those chemicals that are put in fabrics to kill the odor causing microbes that are released when you sweat. Now we are getting somewhere when they say there is “danger” posed by these toxic additives. Sure the additives kill the microbes which now stay in your pores and putrefy.

The test is particularly suitable for:

• Body-contact clothing, e.g. sports clothing, underwear, fitness and functional textiles.
• Textiles for sensitive persons such as those with allergies, small children, invalids and elderly persons
• Reclaimed textiles

Trusted advertising with the “Skin Friendly” label

If this test is passed in conjunction with the STANDARD 100 by OEKO-TEX product test, the textile is awarded the Hohenstein Quality Label “Skin Friendly”. Textile manufacturers receive an established label that can be used effectively for supporting advertising and attests to independent checks and trade safety for the consumer.

Here is where the money comes in; HoHo does the testing that the textile company pays for and then they are provided with labels they can sew on their garments. I bet dozens of companies will climb on board so they can say our fabrics are “FRIENDLY”. What a joke!!!!

To what extent do modern textiles reduce sweat odor?

Modern textiles do not do either!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When a person starts to perspire, this leads to the production of sweat to eliminate excess heat and regulate the body’s temperature. Textile manufacturers are working on optimizing the performance of their products. As sweat is diffused through the textile, the interaction of bacteria, fluid transport and the adherence and release of odor molecules all affect the level of sweat odor in the textile. All of these areas must be taken into account to achieve optimum results in odor management.

People do not start to perspire, they are always perspiring; most of the time very slowly and when active very aggressively. Clothing does not optimize performance! And finally they end with “odor management”. I would really like to hear there method for managing odor; I think it can’t be done.

As the only institute able to investigate all of these aspects, Hohenstein provides a three-stage check procedure to determine the reduction properties for sweat odor.

• 1. How well, or how poorly, do odor-producing dermal germs multiply on the textile, measured during an application period of four hours, to get results as close to reality as possible?
• 2. What percentage of sweat odor molecules adheres to the textile and therefore cannot be smelled?
• 3. How strongly does the textile actually smell of sweat? In this practical experiment, test subjects wear sample textiles, which are then evaluated for the strength of sweat odor by odor testers.

ODOR TESTERS; are the testers the ones smelling the garments after those exercising remove them or are they the ones doing the exercising? This reminds me of the story about the Schlemiel and the Schmazel, the Schlemiel is the waiter who spills the soup and the Schlamazel is the one he spills it on. How do the measure the “dermal germs”? Can they photograph them so we can see them?

Labelled “ALL DAY FRESH”

The test procedure described above allows Hohenstein to thoroughly investigate the topic of odor management in textiles. This involves testing materials in conditions that mirror reality, and the results help textile manufacturers.

The HoHo institute does not know what reality is!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is nothing more than a money making scheme. Next year you will see this label on nike, addidas, northface and columbia and so many more companies since everybody is looking for a hypothetical edge to sell their products.

While I was still a resident of NYC I had a friend who was working at the Manhattan Institute of Mental Health and I would do volunteer work with him. I am beginning to think that the HoHo Institute is in the same category. They function on whims just like the inmates.

SO IS IT TIME TO RETURN TO THE GARDEN OF EDEN WHERE WE WILL NOT HAVE TO BECONCERNED THAT OUR BODIES ARE COVERED WITH MATERIALS?

CORRECTION OR ADDITION TO YESTERDAYS ARTICLE. I FORGOT TO SAY THAT THE JACKET TO BE WORN WHEN THE TEMPWERATURE WAS 0 DEGREES SHOULD BE THE BARRON GROUNDS PARKA. THEN THE URBAN ANTARCTIC FOR -20 DEGREES.