Ascend Form Sweden: Odor-Free Training Tees Built on Built-In Antibacterial Masterbatch Yarn
Ascend Form is a Sweden-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 premium tier had to justify its price with something customers could actually feel. The target was a measurable freshness difference against the core range.
Ascend Form: 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 price increase planned for the following season 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 Built-In Antibacterial Masterbatch Yarn on a polyester filament knit base. The mechanism matters: the active agent is locked inside the fibre so it cannot be washed off the surface. 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 polyester filament knit fabric
Development and implementation
- Week 1: brief agreed, sweat zone mapped, target set as above 99% bacterial reduction retained after 50 washes by JIS L 1902.
- 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 50 washes or more, care wording written as standard laundering with no special requirement.
- Bulk: fixed recipe, consolidated dye lots, JIS L 1902 repeated on every lot.
Specification delivered
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Product | Training Tees |
| Base construction | lightweight single jersey with 8% elastane, 135 GSM |
| Odour-control system | Built-In Antibacterial Masterbatch Yarn |
| Performance target | above 99% bacterial reduction retained after 50 washes |
| Test method | JIS L 1902 |
| Service life | 50 washes or more |
| Added cost | an 8% yarn premium |
| Certification | OEKO-TEX Standard 100, REACH compliant inputs |
Results
The fabric held its odour value through 30 home washes with no measurable drop, and care wording was updated on the hangtag to protect the value. 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.” — Ascend Form Product Team
Inline inspection and packing before the training tees shipment
Key takeaway
The brand's real problem was a claim it could not support. Once testing was tied to a named standard and repeated per lot, the same fabric could be defended to retailers and to customers. For Ascend Form, that turned a recurring complaint into a feature the brand could sell.
