Instead of absorbing sweat like its competitors’ products does, Ably Apparel clothing is designed to repel liquids while allowing sweat to evaporate through the breathable material. Created by brothers Rai and Akhil Shah, Ably Apparel clothing is made from 100 per cent cotton and mass production is set to start once its Kickstarter ends on 4 July.
“Less washing, less packing, longer use,” says co-founder Rai Shah about the clothes. Ably Apparel will be available in four different designs including T-shirts and a hoodie. The clothes are activated by Alby Apparel’s patented Filium technology that makes use of natural fabrics to repel liquids, stains and odours.
Rai Shah says that other products on the market promise similar repellent properties, but they use a nanoparticle coating – something that Ably Apparel is against. Ably Apparel believes that Nano particle technology and the toxic chemicals competitors use can leach into human skin as well as being harmful for the environment. Nano particle clothing also takes thousands of years to disintegrate, further polluting the world.
Speaking about the effect Alby Apparel will have on energy use, Rai Shah says they are extremely excited. “Doing laundry uses a lot of energy and resources. Washing and drying one load of laundry every two days creates about 439 kilograms of CO2 every year. If even a fraction of the world’s clothing were activated with Filium, that would be a gigantic reduction in carbon emissions and wasted resources.”
Together Rai and Akhil Shah have founded numerous brands and contributed to global causes. Together with Stanley Hainsworth, the former creative director at NIKE, Lego and Starbucks and a Design Indaba Speaker in 2015 (you can watch his full speaker talk now), they founded Ably Apparel early this year to create clothing that is – in their own words –“Whateverproof”. The company has already surpassed its goal of $20 000 on Kickstarter and currently stands at over $250 000. Ably Apparel promises Kickstarter-funders that they would be first to receive clothing once production starts after the Kickstarter ends on 4 July.
