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The Body Electric
Celliant, a novel tech-fabric that boasts a range of therapeutic properties, has captured the attention of major sportswear manufacturers with its claim to recycle your body's own energy.
Whether active or at rest, the human body emits anywhere from 200-940 nanometers of energy and, in essence, Celliant ensures that this energy doesn't go to waste. It turns out that the magic's in the minerals.
First created in 2003, Celliant is made, rather remarkably, from a proprietary blend of thirteen optically responsive minerals (including silicone dioxide, aluminum oxide and titanium dioxide). These minerals are ground into a fine powder and mixed with a liquid polymer, which is then embedded into polyester fibers and spun into thread. It's these minerals that enable the fabric to capture both visible and infrared energy, alter the wavelength of this energy, and re-emit it back into your muscle tissue. This recycled energy increases levels of nitric oxide, a basal dilator, to stimulate capillaries and increase the amount of oxygen available to your cells. This in turn promotes quicker healing, and even regulates body temperature in the process. Celliant boasts the distinction of being the first and only technical performance fiber clinically proven to improve oxygen levels in the body.
Celliant has been used in mattresses, pillows and blankets to increase sleep efficiency (as measured by a decrease in the number of times participants in a study flipped over in their sleep). More recently, Celliant has cropped up in performance sportswear lines like Adidas ClimaCool apparel and Reebox ZigTech apparel. Super Bowl winner Mark Herzlich, of the New York Giants, is a fan.
This summer, the fabric will be put to the test at the 2012 Olympics in London, when United States triathlete Sara Groff will compete in Saucony AmpPro2 gear enhanced with Celliant fiber.
