X-static or other silver fiber t-shirts?

[Eric S Dingeldein]

Hi, Seems like a number of folks made these at one time and now there are none to be found. Any ideas why? I have a long sleeve zip mock (SportHill) that works well for me. Can anyone suggest a source or alternative. Thanks for any info. eric

[Alex Lee]

There are some on SierraTradingPost.com. I got two X-Static shirts from there two months ago.

[Anonymous]

I’ve got a PDF file that has a list of every company that uses X-Static and the garments in their line that are made with X-Static. I can email it to you if you want.

Here’s a piece of an email from Visaendurance, another company that makes a fabric just like X-Static…

You can get Visaendurance shirts at http://www.Campmor.com under the Terramar
Transport t-shirt, at http://www.sahalie.com under Visaendurance Tee,
http://www.simmsfishing.com under the Waderwick lightweight crew top,
http://www.mountainhardwear.com under the baselayer area all “eXtend” products
also at http://www.magellans.com. in their men’s underwear section.

You can also get them at Dillard’s stores in their Roundtree and Yorke line
or Academy stores in their BCBG line.

As a note: the Under armor loose fit gear is also visaendurance. They just
don’t hangtag it currently. Also Fila will have a line in stores soon for
running.

[Andrew Emery]

I would LOVE if you could email me that .pdf file. I’ve been looking all day to try and find folks that use X-Static.

Thanks,
Andrew Emery
[email protected]

[EndoftheTrail]

Alex:

How effective are the X-static shirts in your experience?

I am thinking of getting some X-static liner socks…

[Alex Lee]

Benjamin:

I haven’t had a trip long enough yet to really test it. After wearing it for a day my co-worker seemed to think that it’s less smelly than other synthetic shirts.

[EndoftheTrail]

Thanks for your reply. Would be interesting to know how effective they are after 4-5 days of hiking/sweating…

[Dondo .]

Ben:

I have a pair of X-Static liner socks. They end up smelling pretty bad after a couple of days but not as bad as regular synthetic socks. So far I haven’t found anything that keeps the odor down better that merino wool.

Dondo

[Frank Ramos]

My experience is that socks won’t smell if the feet are fungus free. You can use various foot powders to get the feet fungus free initially, such as boric acid, miconazole, clotrimazole, undecylate. Desenex uses undecylate and seems to work well, but most of my experience is with boric acid, which has worked like a charm on every foot fungus I’ve ever had. Once the feet are fungus free, you can keep them fungus free by walking barefoot an hour a day and exposing the feet to sunshine during rest stops.

Last summer, I wore various socks including at least two pairs of wool socks for three weeks straight each and nylon socks for several days straight (I used these after the second pair of wool socks until I could find a store selling more wool socks) without ever washing them with soap and usually only rinsing them every week or so and they never smelled, nor did my feet or shoes. The trick was that I kept fungus from growing on my feet.

If the feet are fungus free, then they don’t smell, any more than fungus-free hands smell. When was the last time you washed your gloves or mittens? I’ve been wearing the same pair of fleece mittens all this winter without washing them and they certainly don’t stink.

A few times last summer I had to walk all day with wet feet. Warm and wet is perfect conditions for breeding fungus. To prevent this, I sprinkled some boric acid in my shoes at the end of each of these rainy days.

I make a point of smelling my feet each morning while stretching to ensure they aren’t getting fungus infected. Foot fungus is not just a problem with socks and shoes. It is also a great way to really stink up a sleeping bag like you wouldn’t believe. You might think the smell would be confined to the foot area of the bag, but recall that you stuff the bag in a sack each day and so the smell can migrate to the rest of the bag. (I’m speaking form experience here, incidentally, from a trip of several years ago.) If that sleeping bag happens to be down, then good luck trying to get the stink out, unless you want to use bleach and hot water to clean it. I ended up just tossing my bag in the dumpster.

In the past, before I learned how to avoid foot fungus, I tried x-static socks and they only work slightly better than regular nylon/polypro liner socks at keeping smell down. X-static may prevent fungus from growing on the socks themselves, but it won’t prevent the stink of fungus on the feet from being transferred to the socks (or shoes or sleeping bag). So the key is make the feet fungus-free.

As for t-shirts, I recommend you try very loose fitting pure supplex nylon instead of x-static. Just be sure to avoid that polyester “wicking” crap in the upper back area. Supplex is smell-resistant and can usually be cleaned by simply rinsing in cold water, such as in a stream. Whereas polyester typically requires hot water and detergent or even bleach to remove underarm smells. The same applies to shorts. Pure supplex shorts are highly resistant to urine smell, whereas with polyester shorts you start to stink like an incontinent homeless person after a few days and then it takes hot water and bleach to get things cleaned up again.

[Dondo .]

Frank,

Thanks for the suggestions on fungus control. I think you’re right about exposing your feet to as much fresh air and sunshine as possible. A few months ago I was having a problem with fungus between my toes despite using clotrimizole on a daily basis. I started going barefoot or wearing sandals as much as I could and the problem cleared up in a couple of weeks.

Dondo

[Richard Sullivan]

I have been very happy with my Mountain Hardwear Xtend zip crew base layer shirt. It was expensive, but let me tell you I can wear it for weeks before it develops even the slightest odor, and even then it’s not the pungent stink you get with Capilene or other polyesters. Apparently the record is something like 80 days straight that someone wore on of these on Everest. So I am a big believer in X-static fabric. I think that Ryan stated in an article that the longevity of the anti-stink was not good, but that’s not what I have experienced. Three years and many washings later it’s still working perfectly.

[Eric S Dingeldein]

I have found that the x-static shirt I have does get a little stinky after several days, but is not at all like similar style capilene (midweight zip-t) or other polyester. I picked up a terramar shirt at a local outfitter and will try that too. apparently with both of these materials, they loose their odor control properties if they get anywhere near fabric softener or dryer sheets. I have found white vinegar to be effective in cleaning the stink out of capilene and similar polyester.

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