It’s really strange. Whenever I wear one of those special runner’s shirts (Under Armour
fabrics that make them harder to clean or more prone to grow bacteria.
So, I did a little research and found a discussion on the Runner’s World forum. It turns out that I am not the only one with this problem. The problem is one of bacteria. Those special wicking fabrics provide great places for bacteria to live and hide. Your shirt might smell fine when it comes out of the washer and dryer but once you start to sweat, the microbes come out to feast. And it gets worse over time because the coating that the fabrics initially have washes off. Here’s a great article on the subject of smelly running shirts.
What do you do about it?
- Use a good detergent. Their expert says to use Tide Powder to wash your running shirts. He also says synthetic fabric specific products like sport wash
- Put them in the dryer. Some people think they shouldn’t but the experts say drying these shirts will help keep the odors down.
- Don’t use a fabric softener. Fabric softeners make a coating on the garment so they don’t work as well.
I like running in the synthetic fabrics much better than cotton, but the smell is unbearable. Hopefully, these washing tricks will keep the odor down. No one wants to be known as “the smelly joggler“.
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ha! So THAT is why Gus smells so bad. He wears the synthetic shirts too, and they reek up the entire house only after one time of him wearing it. Thanks for the tip!
I thought it was me having a problem! I do love these shirts though.
Seriously…Glad you brought this whole thing up, I was getting pretty tired of smelling that crap all over me. It’s pretty gross to think it’s bacteria ALL over you that is making you smell. Yikes.
The Chicago marathon race kit had a sample of that sports wash stuff which is supposed to remove the odors. I don’t know how well it works, but you might want to try that.
Good idea Arcaner. I typically use Wisk and that just isn’t cutting it.
i washed my nike shirt in fabreze detergent and the next day on the treadmill my sweat smelled like roses
Put them in the dryer. Some people think they shouldn’t but the experts say drying these shirts will help keep the odors down.Thank you for your article, I quite agree with this view
@Christian – I’ve tried this. Doesn’t seem to help much but doesn’t hurt either.
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