Feb. 2, 2007 — Vanilla candles, carpet fresheners, air mist sprays and other home fragrance products accounted for $3.4 billion in sales last year. Now researchers are looking at ways to permanently infuse scents into textiles.
The scent-infused fabrics could lead to pleasant-smelling blankets and sheets, give holiday linens a festive fragrance and make gym clothes less odoriferous.
"Some of the strongest ideas we have are in athletic clothing…but we're going to see success in apparel and home textiles, such as towels, too," said John Pierce, associate professor of psychology at Philadelphia University.
Pierce and associate professor of engineering Fernando Tovia, and assistant professor Natalie Weathers are in the second year of a three-year project to assess the fabrics.
The team is pursuing a new method for imbedding the scent directly into the fibers. Conventional methods rely on tiny scent-filled capsules that are added on top of the yarn after it has been woven into a fabric. The capsules release their fragrance when they crack open during normal wear and use.
The problem, said Pierce, is that the capsules frequently break before the garments are on the shelves, and then break some more before the customer can get the product home.
Pierce and his team have developed an alternative method that infuses the scent and the color into the yarn at the time it is made. Their yarn is essentially a core containing strands of scent and color sheathed in an outer layer — all produced in one step.
