Engaging a seminar of receptive apparel and industrial design students, Seth demonstrated how our technology works and outlined the benefits it delivers to those suffering from ailments, in addition to athletes who strive to achieve peak performance.

The advanced design class is known to be unique in providing students with hands-on projects solving complex design problems, and is co-taught by Michael Lye and Donna Gustavsen. The purpose of the class is for students to use innovative thinking to explore the intersection between textiles and medical solutions in order to solve existing problems.

Introducing Celliant

Our goal at the design seminar was to help these students understand how much of an impact they can have in the world through design, especially within the medical field. Our starting point was sharing the idea that textiles themselves have an ability to enhance the way you feel. In order to explain how, Seth shared his presentation on Celliant. A few key highlights of the presentation were:

The body emits energy (in the form of light, visible through an infrared camera). Celliant products absorb, recycle and reemit this light energy to increase oxygen in the muscle tissue. This process delivers clinically proven benefits including increased performance, shorter recovery times, and an improvement in general well being.

Responsive textiles represent a revolutionary paradigm shift. We believe that clothing should not only keep someone comfortable and look good, but also give something back to the wearer in the form of health benefits. Though skeptics of our technology exist, ample evidence shows that this evolution of harnessing the body’s own energy is already happening. For example, subways in Tokyo are being powered by human footsteps, while a hotel in Europe is generating electricity from guests who work out on pedal bikes.

Celliant is Clinically Proven to be Effective

At RISD, Seth provided many examples of how Celliant’s products work. Students were encouraged to ask questions and get to know the inner workings of our technology.

Left: A student using a bolometer, which proves that the human body is emitting infrared light. The bolometer is a sensitive device that scientists have also used to find stars in distant galaxies. Celliant absorbs and reflects the light energy that the body gives off and recycles this energy, reemitting it back to the body in a form that is beneficial to balancing circulation. Right: Seth and a student performing a grip test that demonstrates that wearing Celliant considerably increases grip strength in most people even when worn for a short period of time.

Celliant is created from 13 optically responsive minerals including quartz, alumina (to reflect light) and titanium dioxide (which absorbs UV light).  We grind it into a fine powder that is one micron thin – 100 times less than the thickness of a human hair. The powder is then added to Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) and made into a Celliant master batch. The Celliant master batch is added to a liquid polyester resin to create a fiber or yarn. The filament and spun yarns are sent to fabric makers across the world to create Celliant-powered consumer products such as apparel and bedding. This is the unique approach of our scientific process, and serves as the structure to our high-quality responsive textiles.

Left: Seth with an energy meter, which shows that the human body gives off enough energy to power a 100-watt light bulb. This energy is commonly lost in the form of heat but Celliant recycles the body’s own energy to enhance tissue oxygen levels. Right: We brought along Celliant minerals and fibers and yarns for students to understand how Celliant is made.

After Seth’s  presentation, students formed into small groups to discuss how Celliant technology can enrich the medical field through textile innovation. Many of the students were focused on the way in which Celliant increases oxygen and improves circulation and were therefore interested in solutions for diabetes and those enduring extreme conditions such as high-altitudes.

Your Turn to Help:

RISD students brainstormed other medical applications that could possibly be made using Celliant; including helping burn victims and treating bedsores. What practical medical applications would you like to see for Celliant? Our team will respond to your questions and suggestions here in our blog comments.

At this year’s OR Show, we handed out hundreds of pairs of Celliant socks to visitors who came from all across the country. When people came to our booth, we asked them to tell us where they take their Celliant gear. Check out all the different places, as visually represented at our booth. Through our conversations, we met MMA fighters from Ohio, mountain climbers from Denver, and marathon runners shaping the sport from all over the United States. We also met Jill, a skydiver from San Francisco, who shared that using Celliant gear on her dives helps keep her energy level high. We’re excited that people from coast to coast are learning about and benefiting from Celliant technology.

Tell us where you are from, and where do you take your Celliant gear?

Jump to 2:58 to view the Celliant Technology Feature

In the latest media news for Celliant technology, Fox News recently aired a segment on technology in fashion featuring Reebok ZigTech apparel, powered by Celliant.  Dawn Del Russo, fashion and technology expert, explained that Celliant-powered apparel “gives you more energy, gives you more stamina.  It’s built right into the fibers.  And it reduces sweating.” 

Other techno-fashion products on display included a solar-powered backpack, mascara with LED lights, and cufflinks that functioned as both USB drives and wifi providers.  The anchor exclaimed, “It’s very James Bond-ish!”

Dr. Drake is the Bioscientific Staff Investigator at the Henry Ford Hospital Sleep Disorders Research Center, in addition to being Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences at the School of Medicine, Wayne State University.

Along with authoring over 150 articles, reviews and abstracts in his field, Dr. Drake serves on the editorial board of various sleep and behavioral sleep field journals.  He is currently the Vice Chairman of the National Sleep Foundation and is studying insomnia and circadian timing in shift workers.

Dr. Weiss is the Dean M. Willard Chair in Chemistry and Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Physical Chemistry, and Physiology and a member of the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA.  He has been a scientific researcher for over 20 years, both in and out of the university.

The Weiss lab has worked on ultrasensitive single molecule spectroscopy methods for over 15 years, and was the first to introduce the single molecule FRET method and were among the first to introduce quantum dots to biological imaging.

The Board members will be happy to answer questions about their interests and experience, and look forward to further substantiating the science behind Celliant.

“The Celliant story starts with the heart. The heart pumps blood through tubes called blood vessels. Blood vessels vary in size, getting smaller the farther away from the heart that they go. In fact, they get extremely small. Interestingly, some blood vessels can relax or tighten (i.e. vasodilate or vasoconstrict) depending on certain physiological conditions; these vessels open and close depending on how much blood needs to go to whichever muscle or muscle group is active. What controls whether they are open or closed? All kinds of chemicals control whether the smallest blood vessels, called capillaries, open or close. For example, exercise is a signal that more blood needs to come to a muscle. Light energy, too, is something that can cause the capillaries to relax.”

“The type of light that can cause the capillaries to open is light that we cannot see. The spectrum of light that the eye can see is only a small band within the entire light spectrum, but there is also a whole spectrum of invisible light, from infrared to ultraviolet. This light that we cannot see, specifically infrared (IR) light, can penetrate into the skin and cause capillaries to open up, which means that more blood flow can come to the skin and tissue under the skin. This has some major benefits. For example, increased blood flow to a wound or a cut would make it heal faster.”

The primary tenet of Celliant products, explains Dr. Coyle, focuses on utilizing these properties of light to enhance blood flow.

“What does that mean?” he continues. “Instead of wearing a Band-Aid, you could wear a bandage made of Celliant that increases blood flow and helps the wound heal faster. That’s what Celliant does.”

“Inside the fabric, there are several minerals that are ground up more finely than the human eye can see. The minerals within the yarns reflect the light (that you can’t see) back into the skin, interacting with the capillaries and causing them to relax or open.  This process allows greater blood flow to that area.”

This, of course, is only a basic version of the work Celliant is doing for your body, even on a microscopic level.  What other questions do you have?  What else can we clarify?  Tweet us your questions @Celliant.

Click for the Full Version of Celliant’s Infographic: An Inside Look at the World’s Leading Responsive Textile

As an emerging technology company, our prospective clients and customers often pose the bottom-line question: does this stuff really work?  The answer is simple: yes. And we know it works because we prove it through clinical studies.

The way it works, in the words of our Chief Science Officer, Dr. Michael Coyle, is as follows: “Celliant is a technology that enhances a process that already occurs in the body; delivering blood flow to exercising muscles already occurs. We have a technology and a product that takes naturally occurring infrared light and returns it back to the tissue and to the skin and into the capillary to increase blood flow to further deliver more oxygen and blood to the working muscle and tissue—to give it more substrate, or energy, to do more work.

It isn’t easy being the purveyors of an advanced technology in a market that isn’t looking to be disrupted.   But we relish the chance to challenge the market and back up our claims through science.  In a recent article in Scientific American, Shawn Lawrence Otto, the author of Fool Me Twice: Fighting the Assault on Science in America, argues that “science constantly disrupts hierarchical power structures and vested interests in a long drive to give knowledge, and thus power, to the individual.”

Through shaking things up, we know that we’re opening ourselves to skepticism.  A healthy skepticism, however, is something we have no problem with.  Indeed, our own Dr. Coyle remembers a conversation with a colleague in which he realized the value of good questioning: “We were having a light-hearted conversation about the difference between the curmudgeon [someone who refuses to consider new technology] and the early adopter. My friend said, ‘Well I’m a skeptic. But just because I’m a skeptic doesn’t make me a non-believer.’”

It’s a state of mind that has been important to Dr. Coyle, and the rest of us here at Celliant.  “Inherently you have to be a skeptic,” Coyle notes.  “But what I think and what I’ve noticed is that you have to be very careful about crossing over that line between skepticism and cynicism. And on the other side of it is being so enthusiastic about your own work that you cross over into being a zealot. In my opinion, the good academic, the well-centered academic is the one who can be a constructive skeptic, so they can see the body of work for what it is, and see the strengths and the weaknesses.”

We at Celliant approach our work in this way: enthusiastically forging ahead as early adopters with new and innovative technology, but doing so with a tempered and measured skepticism, ensuring that our projects are proceeding in the most factual and scientifically rigorous way possible.  We welcome your comments and questions, and hope to engage in thoughtful debate, through which to keep moving forward.

These are the inspirational moments that make us keep coming back to sports—moments of excitement and adrenaline, the rush of joy and the thrill of victory. At Celliant, these are the moments we support you in reaching, whether you’re pounding out sub-six-minute miles or looking for that second wind in the touch-football arena. We won’t be surprised if you’re off the computer and on to your next race in 2012!

5. Katherine Switzer breaks gender barrier in Boston Marathon (1967)

-And she does so in 4:20, with some blocking help from her All-American boyfriend who body checked a race organizer trying to detain the determined Switzer at mile two. Here’s Switzer, who was the first woman to run as an official entrant, on the excitement leading up to the race: “Hot damn, I thought, I have a coach, a training partner, a plan, and a goal: the biggest race in the world—Boston.”

4. Injured Willis Reed plays through pain in the NBA Finals (1970)

-When teammates begged Reed to give them 20 minutes in the final game against the Lakers, Reed limped onto the court with a severely injured leg to square up against scoring behemoth Wilt Chamberlain. Said Reed, “With one leg, I was being asked to guard the greatest offensive force in NBA history.”

3. Iron Horse Lou Gehrig gives “Luckiest Man” speech (1939)

-Diagnosed with the disease that would later carry his name, Gehrig took his emotional leave from baseball at home in Yankee Stadium. The “Iron Horse” had held a 2,130 consecutive-games streak over 15 years. In the face of sickness and the end of his playing career, Gehrig intoned the now-famous words, “Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth.”

2. Slovenian skier Petra Majdic captures cross-country bronze with four broken ribs (2010)

That’s not even the half of it. After falling off the course in a pre-race training run, she suffered a collapsed lung in addition to chest injuries. Though Majdic didn’t know how bad it was until after the race, her pain was apparent. Afterwards, she reported that even rival teams were cheering her on throughout the course.

1. Abebe Bikila wins gold with bare feet (1960)

Why are marathons always so inspirational? We just couldn’t leave out Bikila’s barefoot marathon in Rome. He became both the then-world record holder and the first sub-Saharan African to win Olympic gold. Why go barefoot, you might ask? For Bikila, it was simple: the shoes didn’t fit.

Help us continue the Celliant conversation.  Which inspirational moments would you add to the list?

Gina Stephens-Taylor is one of our most active Facebook users. As a military wife and mother of two, Gina started using Celliant technology for Zumba class and has risen up the ranks to become an instructor.

How did you get involved with Zumba?

I got involved with Zumba fitness after I had my second child at 43. I had a hard time taking off the baby weight. With all the cardio and weight training I was doing, I was only making very small gains and at the time was twenty pounds over my pre baby-weight. I was a personal trainer at my local YMCA; I was in the weight room and I could hear the music through the floor– I couldn’t stop dancing and I used to sneak out of the weight room and hit the group exercise room for a song or two. I was hooked instantly and went to as many classes as I could. I started losing weight fast! Four months later I became an instructor.

What was your proudest moment in terms of personal fitness?

My proudest moment was running my first 5K with obstacles this summer at the Warrior Dash. It took place on a ski mountain, so half the race was uphill. I was the oldest out of my group of friends and I came in first. I’m not a runner, never was. Next up is Iron Girl!

How did you first hear about Celliant? Would you recommend using Celliant to others?

I first heard of Celliant on Facebook. I read up on the products and what they do. I was very interested in how they worked and what they claimed to do. I then entered and won a product promotion to test out some socks and wristbands. So glad I did; I’ve been using Celliant products ever since! I would absolutely recommend Celliant to my students. I’ve been doing so for a while and will continue to do so.

What do you like most about Celliant?

What I like most about Celliant is that I have more endurance during a workout or a class. Zumba is very high energy and the music can be fast. I cannot be out of breath or tired while instructing a class. I really feel like recovery is quicker with Celliant products.

What advice do you have for those who want to reach their performance goals?

Advice for those who are starting out and even those who aren’t: set small goals and don’t be discouraged. Push yourself because nothing worth doing comes easy. You’ll thank yourself later.

We thank Gina for her enthusiasm for Celliant and commitment to healthy living. Gina’s Celliant story demonstrates how our technology is benefitting athletes every day. Please check out her Facebook and website, or leave us a comment!

This is the first post in a three-part series of conversations with Dr. Michael Coyle, the Chief Science Officer at Celliant. Dr. Coyle is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor in Human Performance at the University of Indiana-Bloomington and an expert in cardiopulmonary physiology.

Dr. Michael Coyle focuses his research on the limits of human potential. One of Dr. Coyle’s early findings showed that when challenged by seemingly different environmental stresses—like a serious medical condition or a high-level performance—the body is both fragile and resilient. Dr. Coyle’s research aligns with Celliant’s mission to provide benefits to both high-performance athletes and those experiencing debilitating medical conditions. In a recent conversation with us, Dr. Coyle explained the science behind these extremes by drawing upon two main observations:

Observation #1: Athletes can achieve extremely high levels of performance despite low levels of oxygen saturation in their blood. 

“Earlier in my career, I researched elite athletes, some of whom were world record holders in their events, and would warm up at treadmill speeds that I could only dream of running.” Examining the saturation of oxygen (the amount of oxygen bound to hemoglobin) in these high-performing athletes lead to startling results:

“They were running so fast that the saturation of oxygen (the amount of oxygen bound to hemoglobin) in their blood would actually drop.” While a normal finger pulse oxymeter reveals saturation levels of 95 to 100%, over half of Dr. Coyle’s athletes saturation dropped to values well below 88%, a rate low enough to immediately send a patient to intensive care for fear of a pulmonary complications. Despite exercising at a level where oxygen saturations were so low, the athletes were able to continually perform at very high work rates. That’s one end of the spectrum.

Observation #2: Sufferers of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease can also perform at a maximal level despite registering low oxygen saturation levels in their blood.

At the other end of the spectrum, Dr. Coyle researched people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. In this case, maximal exercise means something completely different than high-performing athletes, like a person leaving their chair and walking to the refrigerator to get a snack while oxygen is strapped to their nose. “When they perform this task, the amount of their hemoglobin saturation drops as well, just as with the athletes. With two completely different stressors we saw that the body actually responded completely in the same way. The body only has a few ways to manipulate the variables that are given to it from a cardiopulmonary standpoint.”

Finding: “Stress is stress”

Evaluating the two extremes, Dr. Coyle concluded that stress, in the work sense, produces the same reaction whether someone is capable of high performance or experiencing a debilitating condition. “As a young graduate student, I was naïve to not look at the environmental stresses incurred by someone in a disease state in the same light as those experienced by an athlete. On one hand you have the fragility of disease and on the other hand, you have the resilience of absolute fitness, but you still see the same symptoms at the extremes. To this day it still fascinates me to think about it.”

Dr. Coyle’s research aligns with the core of Celliant technology; solutions that serve a high-performance athlete can also serve a person suffering from a debilitating disease. At Celliant, we’ll continue to provide benefits for both through the development of its technology. We would love to hear your thoughts and your experiences on the subject of human potential!