Pulse Meridian New Zealand: Odor-Free Cycling Jerseys Built on Capillary Wicking Plated Structure

Pulse Meridian is a New Zealand-based activewear label whose cycling jerseys 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 cycling jerseys programme

The challenge

The smell built up at the back panel under the pockets, 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 Capillary Wicking Plated Structure on a polyester with channelled cross-section base. The mechanism matters: sweat is moved to the outer face and evaporated before bacteria can break it down. Keeping the base at polyester knit with mesh side panels and 130 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 with channelled cross-section fabric

Development and implementation

• Week 1: brief agreed, sweat zone mapped, target set as moisture management class above 4 with one-way transport above 300 by AATCC 195.
• 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 cycling jerseys, assessed after eight hours of wear.
• Pre-production: wash durability confirmed at permanent construction benefit, care wording written as never use fabric softener, which blocks the capillaries.
• Bulk: fixed recipe, consolidated dye lots, AATCC 195 repeated on every lot.

Specification delivered

Results

Smell-related returns fell by 71% inside one season, and the style moved onto a fixed repeat recipe with test reports issued per lot. 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.

“Their team explained the mechanism in one sentence, and the bulk fabric behaved like the sample.” — Pulse Meridian Product Team

Inline inspection and packing before the cycling jerseys shipment

Key takeaway

Care instructions are part of the product. Stating the right wash conditions on the label is what keeps the measured value alive after the garment leaves the store. For Pulse Meridian, that turned a recurring complaint into a feature the brand could sell.