Polygiene: A Stand Up Company

Patagonia is using Polygiene in some of it’s products. As is Polartec. I’m sure we’ll soon see quite a few products using this.

"Polygiene uses naturally occurring silver salt (silver chloride) made from recycled silver, a highly effective antimicrobial agent, to safely inhibit the growth of odor-causing bacteria and fungi. However, Polygiene does not affect the natural bacterial flora of your skin."

How does it know the difference?

Because the silver chloride stays in the fibres, where you don't want the bacteria, but it doesn't stay on your skin?

I like polypropylene.
Its light
Its soft
Its warm

It pills HORRIBLY
It loses its elasticity with age, gets all loose and stretched out
You can easily damage in the dryer, ie melt it.

The smell never has bothered me personally.

Made me think of this thread:

"The makeup, sunscreen and clothing and that you wear every single day could possibly be damaging your DNA, according to a new study from MIT. Nanoparticles like zinc oxide and nanoscale silver, used by manufacturers to kill microbes, extend shelf life or enhance texture, have been shown to be toxic to cells. These particles produce free radicals which can accumulate in the body and cause harm to DNA."

http://inhabitat.com/scientists-find-that-tiny-particles-in-clothing-toys-and-cosmetics-may-damage-dna/

Actually, that's a really timely post because I was just about to throw out some really good NZ cycling tops because they're mostly polypro and I can't keep them from stinking. And I was actually wishing that there was a silver ion treatment for them. I wonder if I can source some polygiene locally?

Answer my own question: yes, I can get it very locally.

Christopher, most forms of silver are relatively low toxicity. There have been a number of individuals who have taken INTERNALLY simply MASSIVE amounts of the wrong forms of silver, like silver chloride, silver oxide, etc and not colloidal silver like they should have been taking (very, very, very low, almost non existent toxicity), and the worst that they experienced was their skin turning blue-gray! A couple of these folks seem to have done this on purpose, as a way to garner publicity.

I know this, because i purchased a colloidal silver maker and did A LOT of research on silver. There is a lot of disinformation and myths about colloidal silver out there. And most of the machines that claim to make CS, actually make ionic silver, which oft turns into silver oxide naturally. You often have to "reduce" the ionic silver after the electrolysis process to get true colloidal silver. And you're never supposed to add salt during the electrolysis process (if you're going to use it internally), which as mentioned some people would either ignorantly, or purposely for effect, do.

So, the extremely minuscule amount of silver that "may" be absorbed through the body via clothes with polygiene, should have very little if any negative effect on the body. We are talking factors of millions times less than those individuals who purposely ingested the wrong kinds and huge amounts of NON colloidal silver forms, like silver chloride, which is what Polygiene uses.

Also, note that Polygiene says that they do NOT use "Nano" silver. If it's not nano, very little chance of it getting absorbed into the body–the particles would simply be too large. The body is very good at keeping stuff out via the skin. Now, if you slathered yourself up with DMSO all the time, might be a different story (actually, even in that case, still over large particles can't get in).

Even nano zinc oxide so far, has been tested to not be absorbed into the body via skin. Part of the reason is the molecular structure/shape of zinc oxide. It's extremely spherical, so in a sense, it almost bounces off the skin. If it had sharp, or thin type structure, it would be more likely to be absorbed or pushed through the skin.

If one is going to worry about things, then worry about car exhaust, chemical based sunscreens, most forms of plastic that we use, eating junk food or processed foods, eating big agro meat, etc, etc, etc because in all reality these are going to be much more toxic to the body than clothing with silver on it, or even nano zinc oxide. (Btw, a good alternative to nano zinc, is micronized zinc, definitely too large to be absorbed by the body by any standards but still rubs in clear).

Keep in mind that Patagonia spent 2 years researching and testing various silver based odor prevention technologies before finally deciding on Polygiene. That is because, for a corporation, Patagonia actually seems to have some values and cares about people and the environment. Plus, they found it very effective.

Glad my post helped Arapiles. If you do buy some P.P. clothing with polygiene, please report back after some experience with same. So far my polyester clothes with the above work pretty well.

Just on the nano point, I used to do a lot of insurance work and about 8 years ago Swiss Re did some research on possible issues with the nano products coming onto the market at that time. The concern was that it would eventually end up like asbestos and cause long tail illnesses, but the only report I've seen recently (dealing with zinc oxide I think) was saying that it wasn't going to be an issue.

So, I bought some polygiene locally – sadly, because of the Australia tax it was twice the price it is in Europe ….

Anyway, treated some comfy but smelly synthetic clothes and jocks which I had just about given up on and to date it's working perfectly – no pong. I'm about to start commuting by bike again so will invest in another bottle ("invest" – take out a loan basically) to treat my Ground Effect summer cycling tops and will report back in March/April after the summer.

I know I am bringing a thread back from the dead but I am interested in folks experiences with Polygiene and there does not seem much around on it. Now that its is two years down the track and it seems it is being used in more products what is folk experience with products treated with Polygiene? Does it really last days stink free?

I can often go a week in warm weather between wash options so keen for stink free options.