Pulse Meridian Portugal: Odor-Free Yoga Shorts Built on Built-In Antibacterial Masterbatch Yarn
Pulse Meridian is a Portugal-based activewear label whose yoga shorts 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 yoga shorts programme
The challenge
The smell built up at the inner thigh and the waistband, 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 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 brushed jersey with 20% elastane and 225 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 yoga shorts, 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 | Yoga Shorts |
| Base construction | brushed jersey with 20% elastane, 225 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 compliance team cleared the fabric for all three sales regions, and one fabric could now serve the whole range instead of three. 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 fabric still smells clean at the end of a double training day. That is the comment we get most often now.” — Pulse Meridian Product Team
Inline inspection and packing before the yoga shorts shipment
Key takeaway
A wear trial cost two weeks and prevented a bulk mistake. Laboratory numbers predict performance, but only wearers find the complaints that reach customer service. For Pulse Meridian, that turned a recurring complaint into a feature the brand could sell.
