"The silver never comes out? I doubt that very much. Studies on silver nanoparticles have shown that they pretty much all end up in the water after a few washings."
It gradually wears off over time, but again is unlikely to be absorbed through the skin. Polygiene btw, does not use nanoparticle size, and neither would the copper i use be nano particle size. Polygiene is rated for 100 wash cycles–hence it is fairly durable/long lasting. It is so, because it is bonded to the fiber through the dye, which is strongly bonded to the fiber.
"Of course, the bigger issue remains: why waste your time trying to come up with a techno-fix for a non-problem? Wool is a great solution for smells and is totally non-toxic. I've worn nylon shirts on my last 2 thru-hikes, and while they're not totally smell-proof, I could walk into a restaurant right off the trail and not offend people with my odor."
It is less the odor per se that i have a problem with. There is something to be said for good hygiene for health in general.
As someone that experienced a chronic jock itch infection for years and endured same during a 500 mile hike (not pleasant most of the trip is an understatement), i'm particularly aware of how synthetics, especially polypropylene and polyester promote the more pathogenic and/or stinky microbial growth. Yet, synthetics have a lot of other advantages otherwise.
So, some might ask, why not try to make them better in the area they lack the most?
Smell btw is a subjective thing that different individuals experience to different degrees. Our odor tends to be less offensive to ourselves than to others, so unless you were telepathically reading everyone elses minds that came into contact with you, you might not fully know to what degree someone else found your odor offensive or not. Many people will prefer to be polite, rather than blunt. In early grade school when i lived in Lowell MA, i was part of a reading program where i was paired with a Vietnamese-American student and read books to him to help reading learning. The horrid stench of his breath was quite something (nauseating), but i didn't say anything because i didn't want to hurt his feelings–i was being polite.
Wool btw, is good for odor prevention, but contrary to popular belief it's not the most hygienic material around either. It promotes growth of many microbes, both the stink producing ones and the none stink producing, but they keep each other in check/in balance so the stink producing ones stay at lower levels than in non treated synthetics.
But, i find most wool clothing too hot for warmer weather anyways. While i don't do a lot of over nighter and + trips in the summer, i do do some day hikes, and i just don't like wearing wool in warmer weather. I do like synthetic-wool and wool-synthetic blends for cooler and colder weather. Eventually, i would like to do a longer thru hike, and would like clothes that can be worn in a wide range of conditions and won't stink to high heaven in a matter of days.
As far as "wasting time", that's also pretty relative and subjective. I would say that watching an episode of Seinfeld is a waste of time, and it is for myself, but not necessarily for others. Well, this whole process can be done to multiple articles of clothing in the time of about 2 to 3 episodes. Most of the time is taken up in electrolysis process of creating the silver or copper chloride, but it's time i don't have to pay attention to. I plug in my little device, and it does it all on it's own. I just need to turn it off at some point. As far as active, having to participate time, most of that goes to the dyeing process which takes about 45 minutes of boiling the clothes with the dye/copper or silver. Then a quick, cool rinse in the washer after.
In other words, it's really not that much time or trouble, it's pretty inexpensive especially if using copper. Stink is apparently a big enough issue that much marketing and money is spent on designing ever better tech in this area. I'm just showing folks that DIY options are available. Waste of time in your book, but maybe not others?
