Remember Accapi, the Italian wonder fabric that made all sorts of slightly improbable claims for improved recovery and metabolic performance, but was backed up with precious little actual scientific testing? Schoeller's new energear fabric sounds like a chip off a similar block, but this time, the claims are backed up with testing by the respected Hohenstein Institute.
The launch caught the eye of OM industry insider, John Traynor, who's found that wearing an Accapi scarf, massively improves his stability after neural surgery left him with scarring on his cerebellum, which impacted on his balance, strength and coordination, not least because the theory behind energear sounds similar to that cited by the Italian brand.
Titanium-Mineral Matrix Revolutions...
Schoeller says that a titanium-mineral matrix reflects back Far Infrared rays - no, we don't know what those are either - which are produced by the body, giving benefits including 'the avoidance of premature fatigue, improved regeneration, shorter warm-up phases during physical activity and an increase in balance, concentration and wellbeing'.
As with Accapi, Schoeller had a lot of positive feedback from users saying that wearing the fabric made a 'positive difference', but they took things a stage further and worked with the Hohenstein Institute to devlop lab tests to examine the influence of the clothing on mental performance capacity.
Lab Tested
In the test, subjects wearing either an energear shirt or an identical placebo one, had their reaction times to both visual and audible stimuli measured along with the rate of errors. The results, says Schoeller, show that 'testers wearing an energearTM shirt displayed a shorter reaction time to both visual and audio stimuli corresponding to increased information processing.'
Schoeller is predictably quite pleased - “This product was considered to come from the “esoteric niche” by some and now we have real data that show a scientific positive effect."
Anecdotal Evidence Too
The lab tests are backed-up with user impressions, both from humans and, erm, horses. Well, horse riders anyway, in the case of international equestrian Bettina Hoy, who reckons using an energear horse blanket kept her competition mount 'fresh and motivated'.
Meanwhile, a mountain bike racer who used a energear tee-shirt, Adrea Meier observed: “I wore the test shirt during a 4-hour basic endurance interval training session,” reported Ms. Meier.“I felt more powerful with the shirt. During technique training on the mountain bike, I was able to cope well with the tricky stretches.”
Interestingly, the technology was developed in 2010 and comes as a print paste which can be added to lots of textiles, so could be used in base, mid or outer layers equally well.
Witchcraft?
Both Schoeller and the Hohenstein are well respected in the outdoors industry and it's good to see some serious testing that suggests mental benefits from wearing the material - something that John Traynor's experience with Accapi also, anecdotally, bears out.
Our own experience with Accapi, at least, is rather less clear-cut. It certainly works nicely as a wicking, semi-compression base-layer, but we can't - hand on heart - say we noticed any definite physical or mental benefits from using it either while sleeping or during hard physical activity. Our stance on the fabric has always been that we'll take it seriously when there's meaningfuls scientific evidence of its effects.
So for us, the jury is very still definitely out - showing that a fabric apparently makes for faster reactions in the lab is a long way from unequivocal proof that it boosts physical performance in real world activities. So as far as we're concerned, it's still a witch - but Schoeller is, at least, throwing it in the pond to see if it'll float or not...
