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Universities Collaborate On Air-Purifying Dress 58

Posted by samzenpus from the you-smell-wonderful-tonight dept.
ecouterran writes "From the ecouterre article: 'We have dresses to impress, for success, even to kill, but "Herself" must be the first drapery number to clear the air. A collaboration between the University of Sheffield, London College of Fashion, and the University of Ulster, the sweeping gown is part of a larger project to engage the public in the science of environmental pollution. "Catalytic Clothing" explores how textiles can improve ambient quality, and the self-described textile sculpture, is the first prototype to emerge. Highly experimental, according to the designers, "Herself" is designed to illustrate how fabrics can eliminate pollutants so we can "breathe more beautifully."'"

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Universities Collaborate On Air-Purifying Dress More

Universities Collaborate On Air-Purifying Dress

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  • Needs cleaning before you wear it? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by icebike ( 68054 ) on Tuesday January 11, 2011 @02:58PM (#34838450)

    Sounds like this dress would need to go to the cleaners after simply hanging in your closet.

    • I remember a few years ago, a slashdot article about how Ford developed a radiator that would clean air. I haven't heard about that since and since this dress is an art project, I assume I'll never hear about clothing like this being worn.

      • It actually went into production in the Volvo V70.

        • Which I unfortunately had one of. The worst car ever!!!! Yeah, presumably as you drove it helped spew baby seals out the tail pipe. Blah..

        • Coincidentally, I've invented a bikini made out of Fram Car Air Filters. So, take THAT you drunken college students! I would have invented special filtering underwear, but Depends Undergarments are already on the market. Crap!

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Suki I ( 1546431 )

      Sounds like this dress would need to go to the cleaners after simply hanging in your closet.

      I am way ahead of the curve. Everything I wear to certain smoky* places needs to go to the cleaners the next day.

      *Yes, I smoke tobacco and if I have a cleaning bill it was my choice.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by icebike ( 68054 )

        The fact that you can STILL TELL it needs to go to the cleaners says you could't smoke as much as you seem to suggest.
        Most smokers have no idea how bad they smell to non-smokers.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Suki I ( 1546431 )

          The fact that you can STILL TELL it needs to go to the cleaners says you could't smoke as much as you seem to suggest. Most smokers have no idea how bad they smell to non-smokers.

          I was not saying that I produced all of the smoke in my clothes, silly. It happens in places where many people are smoking. At home, it is usually just me and occasionally my beloved smoking and we manage to keep it close enough to the air scrubber for it to handle.

    • Sounds to me like this is the dumbest idea ever. Why not just make a massive industrial catalytic converter and charge industry the operation costs? Not that I think its necessary but the clothing idea is just dumb.
  • ... in the air, anyway. As a technique to "engage the public in the science of environmental pollution" this might even help.

  • So, kind of a useless article from a technology POV since they are keeping it "under wraps". Anyone out there have any ideas or guesses as to what's accomplishing the "air purification"?

    • It works on unicorn semen (Score:4, Informative)

      by denzacar ( 181829 ) on Tuesday January 11, 2011 @03:32PM (#34838856) Journal

      That is why the top part is white.
      And as everyone know, unicorn semen is lighter than dirt, so the dress is darker at the lower part as the filtered dirt accumulates at the bottom of the dress.

      Only downside is, once the magical properties of unicorn semen get used up, you must wash it in dragon tears.
      Preferably a Chinese dragon. European dragon tears don't have the right level of pneuma to reload the dress in one washing.

    • As someone else pointed out the article mentions sprayed concrete. The only air purifying element used in concrete is Titanium Dioxide. The real question is are there any other methods of getting Titanium Dioxide to have a decent surface area without using concrete as a carrier? Like tiny beads, threads?

      Maybe these will become fashionable in China.

      And from our last discussion on Titanium Dioxide said its in Toothpaste, almost every kind of paint, when will we have an Air Cleaning housepaint?

  • Don't you mean "Capture"? A dress that eliminates pollutants could be just as bad as good. One that acts as a carbon sink, however, could serve some purpose... somewhere... I guess.

    • Don't you mean "Capture"? A dress that eliminates pollutants could be just as bad as good. One that acts as a carbon sink, however, could serve some purpose... somewhere... I guess.

      The mob invented clothing which acts as a carbon sink some time back. Indeed, it is very useful. It was shoes, though, not a dress.

  • I can't wait to see the first Model go down the runway and burst into flame! The Catalytic Converter Dress is upon us now!

  • TFA is woefully short on details, but I would guess that the fabric material contains titanium dioxide, a well researched photo-catalyst. A friend got her PHd on photocatalysis by using TiO in thin plastic tubes. Would be easy to embed in thread.

  • This would make a LOT more sense as window drapes or something similar. Passively clean the air in your house, and look nice at the same time.

  • Ewww. does she smell that bad? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Sounds like a trip to the doctor would be a good idea.
  • "From the ecouterre article"?

    Why not from an airudite article?

  • I call bullshit on this! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by denzacar ( 181829 ) on Tuesday January 11, 2011 @03:26PM (#34838798) Journal

    Feel free to prove me wrong. No, really. I WANT you to prove me wrong.
    Not a single bloody link in that article (and there are 10 of them, plus a video) explains anything even close to how this idea should work. Prove me wrong, give me the information.

    My guess - it is another one of those bullshit "artistic" designs based on magic and "hey wouldn't it be cool". [homedesigninterior.com]
    You know, those that don't bother to use even buzz-words like "nanotech", instead focusing on the Photoshop side of the idea.

    Oh, and if you like the dress, you're gonna love the breathing mask that cleans air, captures CO2 and stores it as electricity, [ecouterre.com] mentioned in one of those links.
    I hear it works on special mushrooms. [youtube.com]

    • What did you do with the rest of your mod points?

      I mean, it is clear that you are not mistaking jokes for trolling.
      After all, you didn't down-mode a post just like this one that includes unicorn semen. That one has a +3 Informative moderation.

      So... Mod points. Are you keeping them for later? Or are you hoping they will replace the balls you clearly lack?
      I'm sorry to inform you, but... mod points don't last forever. That is what "Use them or lose them" means.

  • people take things that haven't changed in forever, and bring them up to date. Not to say that this is necessarily the greatest thing to happen to clothing , but it's great to see people evolving every day items...
  • So according to this article it takes 40 people wearing these to purify 2 cubic meters of air in a minute. Each of which needs to be in direct sunlight as this probably relies on a photocatalyst. At this rate it'd probably be far more effective for these 40 people to bike or bus instead of commuting by car.(Of course, one could put the photocatalyst in the pavement, but that's already been done) And not to mention, given that these dresses likely use a photocatalytic mechanism, they do nothing about particu

    • They look like they'll be effective at cleaning floors, unless worn by an unusually tall person. Agree that it doesn't look effective at cleaning air.

    • So according to this article it takes 40 people wearing these to purify 2 cubic meters of air in a minute.
      Each of which needs to be in direct sunlight as this probably relies on a photocatalyst.

      You and your fancy photo-moto words. Not everything has to be explained by "science". BAH! More like... schmience. Yeah!

      It should be clear even to a blind person that this dress, and similar clothing that likewise don't really exist other than in an animated form, would use MAGIC.
      YEAH! You didn't expect THAT! Did you!? Mr. Sciency McScience Guy.

      This dress will be made by fairies and it will use magic to clean not just air, but water, radioactivity, bad karma and miasma.
      Just you wait and see.

  • LMAO, I JUST watched "Taco Bell Turns Green" on the Onion and the tacos would clean the air and reduce carbon emissions as you're eating. I think this is a neat idea if it prevents the girl's farts from smelling because I think we can all agree here that girl's farts and bathroom breaks are worse then men. (in b4 negative points by female mods)
  • I read the article, but found nothing about exactly which pollutants it's supposed to affect.

  • Stupid article (Score:3)

    by jklovanc ( 1603149 ) on Tuesday January 11, 2011 @04:58PM (#34839764)

    This has to be one of the most vague articles I have ever read. Here are some things it misses;
    1. What pollutants does it purify? Heavy metals in the air would not be effected by a catalyst.
    2. How such clothing could be cleaned?
    3. How long will the dress be effective?
    4. It says two universities were involved. What departments in those universities? Fine Art or Engineering? If it is the Fine Art department I would question the feasibility and effectiveness.

    Even the technology as described is questionable. It would take 40 people one minute to 'purify' 8 cubic meters of air. That is a lot of people for a little bit of air.

    In the article it says the dress is made with sprayed concrete [wikipedia.org] but actually links to this [inhabitat.com] which is cloth impregnated with concrete. The cloth becomes rigid when water is added and it is allowed to cure. A rigid dress is a sculpture not wearing apparel.

    This looks to me like one of many artsy concepts that have little or no basis in science and questionable use as fashion.

  • If this works, can they make tighty-whities out of these? Perhaps my co-workers will then allow me to have Indian food for lunch without banishing me from the building.

    "Dammit, who's turning the air green again?"

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by K10W ( 1705114 )
      They made them already. Undies which have micro silver particles in them for sweaty beasts. I heard socks are available too.
  • Why not a dress shirt for my smelly co-workers?!

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