Marit Kjeldsberg’s research while affiliated with National Institute for Consumer Research and other places

Sport and fitness are increasing in popularity, and so is awareness of body odor. Both are aspects people wish to gain control over, as promised by the marketing of sportswear with odor-controlling properties. This article discusses how the heightened awareness of body odor has developed, and how unpleasant odor varies between textiles made of different materials. A sensory analysis by a consumer panel was used to evaluate the odor intensity of 13 different fabric samples taken mainly from sportswear. The so-called odor-control textiles smelled less intense than similar polyester samples without such treatment. Wool and cotton smelled significantly less intense than both odor-control and polyester when the samples were sweaty or aired. After washing, the odor-control textiles had a level of odor intensity that was in between that of the cotton and woolen samples. The odor-control treatment reduced the smell, but not enough to make a difference on laundering frequency, and the textiles smelled still more strongly than wool.

Fabric softeners are mainly used to reduce roughness and static electricity of textiles, as well as adding a scent to them. In this paper we study how fabric softeners are related to odour properties on clothing. We combine a Norwegian consumer survey with a sensory test on odour development on four different materials used in sports clothing. Samples went through several cycles of use with sweating, washing, and airing and the odour was evaluated at 11 stages. Washing was performed either with or without a fragrance-free domestic rinse cycle softener. Sensory test showed that use of softener increased odour on polyester garments. Survey results showed that a larger number of respondents who used softeners experienced problematic odours in laundry compared to those who did not use softeners.

The cleaning effect of soap nuts, laundry balls, washing pellets and laundry magnets has been tested and compared with washing with conventional compact powder detergent for coloured textiles, and washing with water only. The cleaning effect was evaluated by measuring the tristimulus Y reflection values of pre-soiled fabric strips after they were washed according to standard EN 60456 at 40°C. The results showed that the cleaning effect of the four alternative laundry products was equal to that of water alone. Conventional compact detergent showed significantly better cleaning effect at all tested soil types. However, the results also indicate that water alone already has a substantial cleaning effect. http://www.teknoscienze.com/Articles/HPC-Today-Cleaning-effect-of-alternative-laundry-productsA-comparison-of-soap.aspx