Pulse Meridian Switzerland: Odor-Free Training Tees Built on Copper Ion Filament

Pulse Meridian is a Switzerland-based activewear label whose training tees programme sells directly to consumers and through selected retail partners. The team asked us to rebuild the fabric from scratch because the existing fabric passed every laboratory test yet still failed in wear trials. The target was a solution validated by wear panels rather than by a certificate alone.

Pulse Meridian: odour-control swatch set for the training tees programme

The challenge

The smell built up at the underarm and the lower back, where sweat sits longest during a session. The previous fabric was a standard synthetic knit with no odour strategy, so bacteria broke the sweat down on the fabric and the smell became permanent after a few weeks. A negative review thread on the brand's own product page made the problem urgent: the brand needed a fix before the next bulk booking, not a new supplier search.

The fabric solution

We built the programme around Copper Ion Filament on a polyamide knit base. The mechanism matters: copper damages bacterial cell walls and also improves thermal transfer away from the skin. Keeping the base at lightweight single jersey with 8% elastane and 135 GSM meant the hand, the stretch and the cover stayed exactly where the design team wanted them, because odour control changed the chemistry and the construction rather than the silhouette.

Wear trial and fit approval of the polyamide knit fabric

Development and implementation

• Week 1: brief agreed, sweat zone mapped, target set as bacterial reduction above 98% with improved thermal diffusion by AATCC 100.
• Week 2–3: laboratory knits produced and tested; add-on level adjusted until the target was met with margin.
• Week 4–5: wear trial on finished training tees, assessed after eight hours of wear.
• Pre-production: wash durability confirmed at 40 home washes, care wording written as avoid bleach and dry away from direct heat.
• Bulk: fixed recipe, consolidated dye lots, AATCC 100 repeated on every lot.

Specification delivered

Results

Repeat orders rose by 34% year on year for the treated style, and the untreated version was retired from the range. The odour value was re-measured on bulk fabric rather than on the approval sample, so the result reflects what customers actually received. The programme is now on its third repeat with the same recipe.

“The wear trial convinced our buying team faster than any certificate could have.” — Pulse Meridian Product Team

Inline inspection and packing before the training tees shipment

Key takeaway

Sweat is almost odourless; bacteria create the smell. Treating the bacteria and moving the moisture at the same time solved a problem that neither approach had solved alone. For Pulse Meridian, that turned a recurring complaint into a feature the brand could sell.