Glow in the dark sweat

 

Friend on Facebook posted something the other day about glow in the dark stuff.

Basically, she was talking about glow in the dark fabrics and fabric dyes. Which, sure, I can see a lot of fun and safety and potential value in such a thing. If you wanted a cool look for yourself, that could be neat, especially if headed out for the evening. If you were a parent and wanted something for the kids to wear after dark in the summer or for trick-or-treating, this might be useful. There are lots of great possibilities, and certainly many more to be found.

The specifics of the post however didn’t really connect with me. Not all that interested personally in glow in the dark shirts, pants, socks or bandanas. Doesn’t stir much excitement. With that rattling around in my head, however, I realized there was a specialized fabric I would love.

It’s been a warm, dry summer around here. Actually, make that a hot, dry summer, with little rain but more than a few moments of heavy muggy. One of those summers filled with days where you need a shower after getting out of the shower. Gotta love that.

What I’ve noticed, from exercising to heading out for the day, is that I would really love a fabric that doesn’t change colors when you’re sweating.

Now, some of you fashionistas out there are going to start rattling off color choices and fabric styles that work in such a situation. Fine. But let’s face the realities of the world, if it were perfect and flawless, none of us would have issues with marks along our backs, around our necks and under our arms. But that we do.

When was the last time you opened windows and doors to create cross-breezes?

I did that tonight. Have for the past few nights. Temperatures have been dropping in the evening hours, and I’m trying not to use the air conditioning all the time. (Especially after that last electric bill. I mean, wow.) It’s nice. But earlier this afternoon, I went through three shirts before finally finding one that was going to work for my dinner plans with friends.

And that’s the crazy part, right? I don’t care at all about the temperature in general terms. Cold in the winter, fine, I’ll wear a sweatshirt and jacket. Hot in the summer, I’m really not worried about being drenched when taking a walk or finishing some yard work. It’s when taking a shower and then the simple activity of getting dried off and dressed is causing me to start sweating again that bothers me.

I suppose it would be cool if instead of showing damp stains my shirt glowed in the dark instead. That might be neat. But then again, I’m not sure if trading in a light gray shirt with dark gray spots for a shirt with spots when the lights go out really is all that incredible.

There’s a lot of work when it comes to fashion decisions and choices. We probably don’t respect that enough when watching clips from international designs shows that feature creations absolutely no one would ever wear. (Then again, my style is shorts and t-shirt or jeans and torn sweatshirt. My fashion choices are not likely to create seismic waves for the industry.)

The end result? Glow in the dark fabrics are kind of a yawn. Shirts that don’t show the sweat would be a terrific find. And a cool breeze on a summer evening is a fantastic treat.

 

If you have any comments or questions, please e-mail me at Bob@inmybackpack.com