Having a favourite shirt is fraught with peril, what with the ever-present threat of liquids lurking on the edge of desks and in the hands of clumsy people just waiting for a chance to make your shirt a blotchy mess. A new project on Kickstarter claims to have a solution of sorts – it won’t save a shirt that you already own but you can get one that will resist the liquid menace.
Silic is a self-cleaning t-shirt that repels water, soda and coffee among other liquids and, instead of being a once-off coating for your upper body-wear, it’s rated to withstand up to 80 washes before it loses its special abilities. The Silic t-shirt is made with a layer of silica particles in the fabric itself which repels liquids. The hydrophobic properties of the shirt are thanks to a layer of air that forms between the liquid and the fabric and, according to Silic’s creators, “water based liquids will form a 150 degree sphere and roll right off.”
The project was initially looking to raise $20,000 and they’ve more than tripled that total to date, with another 38 days remaining to raise funds. There are some care instructions when it comes to using the Silic shirt, it needs occasional tumble-drying to reactivate its water-repelling properties, and there’s no word on just how comfortable it feels wearing a shirt with billions of silica particles embedded in it. Still, it sounds like a very good idea on paper at least.
Source: Kickstarter via PopSci