Written by Cassell Ferere

Polygiene is planning to make laundry day less of a thing. The only reason we wash our clothes is that it’s visibly dirty, smelly from afar, or because we think our clothes are dirty and ready to go through that wash cycle once again.

Little did you know that – or a lot of it you did – clothes don’t need to be washed after every wear. To wash your garments more often shortens the lifespan. You waste your money each time you take your clothes to the laundry without a thorough evaluation. Our garments can afford to be hand washed or spot treated, regularly. The better the quality of the garment, the more you should be inclined to care for it.

Washed Up

Washing and drying our clothes regularly accounts for 2/3 of the environmental impact of a product. Often, we think of our clothes as one-time wears then we wash. It’s an unfortunate ritual that is contributing to the contamination of water systems in modern cities and civilizations. 

Treated textiles with Polygiene’s science as it is applied to the garments, do not need to be washed as often, which saves water, energy, time and money. Improving the lifespan of your wardrobe with Polygiene involved, allows you to wear more and wash less while being climate aware and saving money.

Most washing machines today use between 15 and 30 gallons of water on average. The average household does about 400 wash loads a year and can contribute up to 40% of the water usage in the home. Polygiene offers that 1 wash out of 10 will provide a great deal to the eco-system and encourages consumers to keep clothes 2 years longer on average.

Lab Tested Mother Approved

Founded in 2006, the Swedish chemical company, Polygiene, discovered that a low concentration of silver salt (silver chloride) has antimicrobial properties. Properties that when applied at the finishing stages of textile production, in a field and lab tests, showed a high level of odor control beyond the usual lifespan of a garment. Polygiene’s Chief Marketing Officer, Mats Georgson, made the effort to get this chemical-tech out to the mainstream in a ‘Branding Race”. 

This is important because it was this kind of mentality that got us secondary brands like Bluetooth and Gortex when it comes to the things that make life more convenient. Polygiene saw an opportunity to take the odor-resistant tech to activewear, first addressing outdoor sports like running and hiking. Brands like Patagonia and Acr’Teryx use this tech today.

As far as ingredients branding, the idea for Georgson was to expand into lifestyle wear, as it was a natural trajectory of categories in fashion to blend. According to the CMO, this would even include business people who are in meetings all day susceptible to stress-induced sweat. 

Thread The Word

Polygiene ultimately found outlets like Adidas, Converse, and Lacoste to apply this tech to sports and lifestyle consumers. Now you can find their chemical tech in brands like The North Face, Champion, and M. M. LaFleur to name a few others.

To truly understand what Polygiene is, think of how your Bluetooth allows for hands-free cellphone interaction, or how Gortex tends to be the perfect water and windproof finish over everything from Nike Air Force 1’s to your North Face parker - gotta love the zipper closure. It’s this kind of absent-mind awareness that is ideal for Polygiene in the fashion industry.

Laundry Service

It’s an objective that involves reducing water waste and textile waste in one basket. Georgson expresses that there is a “disrespectful attitude towards clothing” from consumers who throw away clothing to early in its lifespan or wash too often, causing deterioration of the garment over time.

There is content for our clothes once worn that is contradicted by the thrift, vintage, recycle, and upcycle markets. Georgson believes Polygiene encourages good habits amongst consumers through education of their science. Polygiene is becoming a game-changer in fashion. Changing the world for the better, Polygiene is doing it from a chem-lab Sweden. 

Sweat is natural and odorless. When mixed with textiles in warm environments they have an opportunity to multiply and grow to cause the odors we are familiar with. Polygiene’s silver salt technology prevents the growth of odor-causing bacteria and fungi.

Like Buying a Car

Extending the lifespan of our clothes, washing less and wearing more, becomes a conundrum in the average consumer’s eyes. Georgson urges the connotation that we have with “buying a car” to buying fashion.

There is more thought into buying a car and care to follow. Fashion has yet to prove it constitutes a rational approach to maintain what we already own, as oppose to just adoring what we consider “new” and “clean”. It's worth it to take care of your clothes like you would take care of your car.

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