The airspace between our skin and our garments creates a humid, warm microclimate – perfect for bacterial growth. Bacteria is the primary cause of body odor and smelly garments.

The ability to wick away liquid sweat and absorb sweat vapors. Cotton is good with vapors, but terrible at wicking sweat. Synthetics are great at moving liquid sweat, but cannot absorb moisture vapor.

Highly subjective, but also incredibly important. We’ve developed a few ways to make sure that these fabrics are desirable next-to-skin.

We engineer for optimal performance which balances comfort, performance, and ease of care. Synthetics provide moisture wicking, wrinkle resistance and prevent shrinkage. Merino wool gives odor control and a dry microclimate and warmth in higher blends:

3DPK Merino: 50% Recycled Polyester / 50% Merino Wool: A high wool ratio gives warmth, while polyester prevents shrinkage.

Atlas Merino: 44% Extra-fine Merino wool, 36% Outlast acrylic, 19% S.Cafe nylon, 1% Spandex, nylon provides a slick interior for easy on / off.

Composite Merino Tee: 45% Recycled Polyester, 45% Spun Polyester, 10% Merino wool. The new Composite is majority spun poly (very soft), with just enough merino for odor control and a matte, natural aesthetic.

We don’t take stances on being on pro-synthetic or anti-natural fibers. The best fabrics are often blends that allow us to tune the right amount of each property.

The S.Cafe yarn is extruded from the master batch to be used in Responsive Shirts and Atlas Socks. The coffee absorbs odor molecules in a way that obscures odor until they can be washed out. The yarn controls odor 3x better than cotton.

A nylon variant of the S.Cafe yarn is coated with silver at an atomic level and used for anti-microbial growth. The presence of silver-ions inhibits the growth of bacteria.

The separated coffee oil is re-polymerized into polyurethane, which is used as the water-proof membrane in the Mercury Jacket. This displaces the need for petroleum-based polyurethane by turning to a renewable oil source.

S.Cafe yarn can be drawn into a lofted insulation that functions as a down-alternative with best-in-class warmth-to-weight ratios.

Viscose, first used in the late 1800’s, is often referred to as the first man-made fiber. Sometimes referred to as “synthetic silk” it has organic origins and has evolved to become stronger, softer and cleaner. Here’s how it’s made:

Shortened Cellulose Chains: Cellulose is the building block of trees, cotton and many other fibers. It’s a type of sugar molecule, formed into chain like starch – Cotton is 3000 cellulose molecules long, Viscose is about 1/10th the length giving it incredible softness.

Breaking Cellulose up: Wood pulp is dissolved, breaking up the long cellulose chains into a thick, “viscous”, liquid like maple syrup.

Rebuilt into new shapes: The syrup is then extruded into an acid bath causing the cellulose to reassemble, taking on a variety of cross-sections that help wick away moisture.

While viscose uses significantly less water than cotton when growing trees or bamboo, the process for making viscose includes carbon disulfide, which can be harmful to the environment if not properly filtered out. In recent decades many factories specializing in viscose have worked to create closed-loop systems for production to ensure those chemicals stay within the plant and out of the water supply and our products.

Viscose is an exciting yarn, one which when blended is becoming a pillar of our Scientifically Natural approach to products – and it itself is a blend of science and nature.

While viscose uses significantly less water than cotton when growing trees or bamboo, the process for making viscose includes carbon disulfide, which can be harmful to the environment if not properly filtered out. In recent decades many factories specializing in viscose have worked to create closed-loop systems for production to ensure those chemicals stay within the plant and out of the water supply and our products.

Viscose is an exciting yarn, one which when blended is becoming a pillar of our Scientifically Natural approach to products – and it itself is a blend of science and nature.