David Olson clued me into this stuff by mentioning Thermolactyl baselayers on another thread. I had never heard of these before, so did some research into this stuff. Very interesting stuff. Very low/practically no moisture regain like polypropylene, low conductivity like kevlar, polypropylene, etc., innately wicking due to innate fiber structure, very slightly heavier than polyester, and unlike any synthetic, innately and permanently antimicrobial.
For the most part, it sounds like an awesome fabric for baselayers. Like polypropylene, it's a bit sensitive to heat (and not as durable as polyester or nylon), but why throw stuff like this in the dryer to begin with when it dries so fast hung up?
I figure some folks, especially some of the older folks must have some experience with this stuff?
It's EXTREMELY hard to find baselayer type garments for sale in the US made out of the stuff. Not so hard in Europe though, particularly France and the UK still have companies that make garments predominantly out of this interesting fiber.
Besides the antimicrobial properties, it also apparently has the interesting property of generating significant amount of negative ions through a type of static electricity reaction. Supposedly, there is a lot of anecdotal reports of it helping with things like rheumatoid arthritis somehow. The generation of negative ions maybe part of what contributes to it's antimicrobial properties too?
Anyways, i'm extremely interested in trying some of this stuff, and hearing about experiences with it. Unfortunately, the UK based company of Damart still makes and sells chlorofibre based thermals, but while they have a US branch, the US side doesn't sell the chlorofibre based thermals for some reason. The UK company doesn't ship those products directly to the US. I've scoured amazon, ebay, etc for places which sell garments made out of this, and pretty much only come up with hats, high wool blends, and/or women's clothes.
My limited understanding is that it's a form of PVC that doesn't contain some of the more toxic chemicals found in some PVC based products?
