Nanoparticles help runners sock it to ’em
11/01/2006
When someone pronounces that their stockings have run, it is usually a bad thing. Not so for a select group of runners who lined up to race the Boston Marathon in April and the Chicago marathon in October.
For them, the socks they ran in may well have given them a slight performance boost. The company that makes the socks - Boston-based Greenyarn - claims they are the world’s most cushioned at a 200 needle count. They are manufactured using Eco-fabric, which is made from nanoparticles of bamboo-charcoal. Greenyarn says the nanoparticles help fight odor and germs, keep runners’ feet cool and dry, and help circulation.
 Run faster, smell better, and look good too. Boston-based Greenyarn says its socks can help you do all three. Photo courtesy of Greenyarn |
So not only will you allegedly run faster, but you’ll smell better while you do it. Far from being merely nano-enabled, the socks are designed with an archband and a Y-heel pocket for better fitting. This is intended to keep them from moving around in shoes and to help maintain an even cushion that will last an entire day - or a whole marathon.
Greenyarn says 10 runners tested the socks during the Boston Marathon earlier this year and said they experienced fewer blisters and a shorter recovery time after running the race. However, a control group wearing “placebo” socks was not part of the test, nor was a smell test conducted after the race to determine the efficacy of the nanoparticles.