Commuting by subway or on foot in big cities during the summer months can be a sticky situation for professionals, who often find themselves perspiring in their collared dress shirts before they even arrive to work. Ministry of Supply, a startup formed by MIT graduates, has found a way to solve that problem by designing a new line of business dress shirts called Apollo that uses a combination of textiles -- including a material designed for NASA spacesuits -- to keep people cool even when it's hot outside.
Manufacturers have been making sweat-resistant athletic clothing for years using a material called wicking that helps keep sweat away from a person's body as they perspire. Using this in combination with an antimicrobial coating and phase-change material developed by NASA to control the temperature inside space suits, Ministry of Supply -- co-founded by Gihan Amarasiriwardena, Kit Hickey, Aman Adbani, and Kevin Rustagi -- has designed a shirt that customer Brian Cass called "the most amazing shirt I've ever owned."
Ministry of Supply's co-founders model the company's new line of dress shirts, which use a combination of materials -- including technology developed by NASA -- to keep sweat away from a person's body and regulate heat so they are sweat- and odor-resistant. They are also made of a stretchy fabric that conforms to a person's body, making them more comfortable than traditional dress shirts. (Source: Ministry of Supply)
The idea was born about a year and a half ago and based on the experience of a friend of the group who works in the financial industry, Amarasiriwardena, who studied chemical engineering with a focus on materials, told us. The friend complained that when he commuted on the subway in the summer, he would "sweat through his shirt" on the way to work and would feel "really uncomfortable."
"Our idea was, what if we could take materials from running clothing and bring that over to dresswear?" Amarasiriwardena said of his and product design specialist Rustagi's decision to team up to launch the company, which did a small run of 50 dress shirts based on new performance fabrics last October. The company has now sold about 250 men's dress shirts, which cost between $99 and $129 and come in the traditional collar and sleeve lengths, he said.
Amarasiriwardena said some of the design of the material of the Apollo shirt was based on his own experience interning for several summers at Sports Technology Institute in Loughborough, UK. Rather than use woven cotton, the material of which traditional dress shirts for men are made, Ministry of Supply uses a pique knit, which uses a different manufacturing process. "Woven cotton doesn't stretch," he said. "The difference [with Apollo] is the double knitting. On the surface that touches the skin there are very small pores. They pull up the moisture and it's able to evaporate easily and keeps your skin dry.
The material -- which then is coated with an anti-microbial liquid that kills the bacteria on the skin that causes perspiration odor -- is similar to wicking, which is common in athletic clothing. But Ministry of Supply does one better and also uses phase change material developed by NASA to also control the temperature of the Apollo shirt, Amarasiriwardena said. "We print on the inner surface these small microscopic beads that have this special polymer -- it melts when it gets hot," he said.
This really meets a need. I have friends in business in Miami who need to wear a suit all the time. They tell me they change their shirts three times a day in the summer. If I could offer some free marketing advise to the guys at Ministry of Supply, you should try selling your products in places like Miami which have high humidity and hot summers.
What is great is that this idea, of taking high tech materials developed for the space program and applying them to business clothing, is that they shake up an industry that has not changed for a long time without having to throw out the whole style.
I guess this is how the guys in Star Trek could wear just one type of clothing all the time.
I would love to get my hands on one of these shirts so I could test of the idea of wearing it for 1-2 weeks straight without having to wash or iron it.
Also, the story mentions men's shirts, but there is a woman wearing one in the photo. Makes me wonder if she customized the men's shirt, or if there is a line for women, as well. If not, that would be a great (and obvious) population to branch out to.
The most we've heard people wearing them without washing is about 5 days. We don't recommend going beyond that, but if you insist, we'd love to hear how it goes!
Our co-founder Kit is shown wearing a shirt that she had tailored (<$20) locally. We are investigating what a women's line would look like and would love to look at that as early as next year.
Feel free to use the discount code: DESIGN-NEWS for $10 off if you want to check out the shirts! Contact us at founders@ministryofsupply.com with any other questions,
Sometimes I look at the stories on the Design News website and say, "why couldn't I think of that?" In this case, though, I'll admit that it never occurred to me that there could be a solution to this problem. Short of installing little fans inside the shirt, I wouldn't have believed this was possible. Kudos to the inventors.
Performance textiles used in non-sports related clothing isn't new. Companies like Outlier and Nau target the hybrid market (active people who bike or skateboard to work but need to look professional).
This approach is unique and definitely opens up new possibilities. Adding "NASA" also brings a little bling to the story. Good job!
Definitely get this to the Japanese market. Casual days are very awkward in the summer. Most businessmen don't know WHAT to wear!
What a great idea! As a guy who wears a lot of white shirts I am always complaining about being hot and sticky. Finally, someone was thinking about me!
If they can only add in internet hotspot with good reception...
Now, how to convince my wife who only likes cotton...
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