Grant: Alliance Grants

Body malodours are secreted from sweat glands, breath, and skin, and their intensity is impacted by increased metabolic rates, diet, hormones, etc. To mitigate these odours, there is an urgent need to better quantify the emission, sorption, partitioning and fate of malodorous organic molecules produced from human sweat. Fear of emitting undesirable body odour during exercise can create a barrier to activity and consequently negatively impact the health of Canadians. Understanding the processes mitigates fear, creates acceptance, and offers pathway for industry to develop innovative textiles. The Smart Textile Innovation and Knowledge (STINK) Team will develop advanced techniques to quantify and mitigate malodours in activewear textiles in a multidisciplinary effort that integrates advances in science and consumer insights. This proposed research uniquely intersects (1) atmospheric chemistry, (2) exercise science and (3) textile science, represented respectively by Drs Nadine Borduas-Dedekind in Chemistry at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Michael Koehle in Kinesiology at UBC and Rachel McQueen in Human Ecology at the University of Alberta. The industry partners and collaborators are Drs Sian Allen, Adrian Lai and Rob Gathercole at lululemon athletica's Vancouver-headquarters. The anticipated outcomes of this research are (1) identification of malodorous molecules from perceived smelly sweaty activewear, including new large organic molecules uniquely observed with the Vocus mass spectrometer, (2) physicochemical properties of malodorous molecules and their molecular interactions with fabrics of different composition and finishes, and (3) the fate of sweat odours over time. These innovative research outcomes will contribute to the design of enhanced textiles to improve the air quality and the sensory experience of Canadians wearing activewear during physical activity. This project will contribute to the determination of the molecular fingerprint of "stink".