Scientists Test Odor-Free Socks

D A V I S, Calif., Oct. 6 -- After a 10-mile run, University ofCalifornia, Davis cross-country runners conducted some unusualResearch — they sniffed their socks.

Fortunately, the stockings were developed to eliminate foot odor— and they worked.

The fabric’s inventor, UC-Davis textile chemist Gang Sun, saysit could have benefits far beyond sweeter-smelling locker rooms,including use as infection-fighting hospital scrubs and linens.

The fabric is made by attaching chlorine-containing moleculescalled halamines to textile fibers. Chlorine in this form haspowerful bacteria-killing properties, Sun said.

Sun gave socks to eight members of the cross-country team to tryout.

Socks Are ‘Recharged’ With Bleach

One runner used his pair every day of a five-day retreat thatincluded a daily 12-mile run, said UC Davis cross country coach SueWilliams.

“After the third day or so, he took them off and said ‘I don’tthink these are working anymore.’ But after they had aired out,within three or four minutes, you couldn’t smell anything but afaint smell of chlorine,” Williams said. “That convinced me.”

The socks can be “recharged” by washing them with chlorinebleach. The treated fabric grabs the chlorine, which then kills thegerms. Because they must be washed in chlorine beach, the socksonly come in white.

Sun is working on a new version that could be washed in regulardetergent 20 times before it would have to be recharged with ableach bath.

While Sun is pleased the university’s runners are more pleasantto be around after a meet, his goal isn’t a line of inoffensiveathletic wear.

He’s more concerned with preventing infections passed on inhospitals.

“If you get an infection in a hospital, it’s usually veryserious, and probably multi-drug resistant,” Sun said. “Textilematerials are often carriers of disease passed from doctor topatient.”