Air pollution is one of the biggest problems of our cities nowadays that causes many health problems and even deaths. We breathe the polluted air almost everywhere: on the streets, in cars, homes, offices, and schools. Trying to solve this problem, the Italian fashion start-up Kloters has created RepAir – the world’s first t-shirt which is able to clean the air from pollution.
RepAir features a pocket which hides a special insert made of The Breath, a patented fabric produced by Anemotech. It is composed of three layers: the two external ones – antibacterial and printable – filter the air; the inner core, enhanced by nano molecules, trap and disaggregate the pollutants and unpleasant odors. Extensive laboratory tests proved the capability of the material to absorb up to 97% of VOCs, 92% of SO2, and 86% of NOx. The Breath has been used so far only in interior design and as external advertising banners. Kloters brings it for the first time in the fashion world. According to projections based on the measurements of the emissions produced by cars in Milan city center, every RepAir t-shirt can absorb the pollutants of two cars.
Federico Suria, Marco Lo Greco and Silvio Perucca (co-founders of Kloters): ‘On Kloters all the products are made thinking about three main values: style, comfort and sustainability. RepAir is born from the desire to go beyond the traditional concept of sustainable fashion. Our t-shirt wants to make fashion a vehicle to raise awareness and to think of new solutions to the pollution problem through nice, comfortable and, most of all, virtuous clothing.’
The company has recently launched a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter, offering the RepAir t-shirts in four colors (black, white, blue navy, and green army) at the special launch price for the first backers. The aim is to involve as many people as possible to begin a virtuous circle, following the motto a single t-shirt may not save the world, but many can. ‘Everyone, with RepAir, will contribute to clean the air actively, effortless, just wearing it,’ says the Kloters team. ‘A daily activity, simple and necessary can become a truly ecological act. The more the people wearing RepAir, the more the world will benefits. It’s sharing ecology.’
TEAM: Silvio Perucca (co-founder & CPO), Federico Suria (co-founder & CEO), Marco Lo Greco (co-founder & CDO), Deborah Lenzini (chief marketing officer), Giulia Contratto (chief content officer)
COLORS: black, white, blue navy, green army
SIZES: XXS – XXXL
So. Many. Questions! So, if the clothing filters pollutants from the air, and traps them within the layers of the shirt, does the shirt get heavier as you wear it? The typical auto produces about ~10,150 lbs of pollution per year, ~845 lbs per month, ~28 lbs per day. So a shirt that can absorb the pollution of two cars per day, at the end that day would weigh ~56 pounds. I also have to wonder how hot the wearer would be at the end of the day, not only from carrying around an extra 56 lbs, but also just from having their own body heat trapped inside that loaded shirt? And then there’s the question of the health risks of day-long skin contact with clothing that is impregnated with carcinogens? I hope someone has given this a lot more thought than I have, because it doesn’t sound like a very good idea.