Infrared (IR) energy is a safe and beneficial part of the electromagnetic spectrum, which also includes radio waves, visible light, and more. Infrared wavelengths have a wide range of uses, and you can find them in everyday products such as remote controls, electric heaters, and thermal imaging cameras.
CELLIANT has carried the science-backed benefits of infrared energy to the world of human wellness, using infrared-emitting bioceramics to create bio-responsive materials that support athletic performance, sports recovery and sleep. These innovative fabrics capture the body’s heat, convert it into infrared energy, and infuse that energy into the body’s skin, muscles and tissues. This process increases local circulation and cellular oxygenation, which helps improve strength, stamina, speed and athletic recovery times.
In addition to the abundance of scientific studies that showcase the wide-ranging applications and benefits of infrared technology, CELLIANT infrared fabrics themselves have undergone clinical testing and reviews by a Science Advisory Board to ensure they are safe and effective.
Wellness-enhancing fabrics such as CELLIANT provide new and exciting opportunities for companies to stay ahead of their competitors with unique product lines. It also gives consumers more ways to support their athletic performance and get restful sleep — all without any extra work. We’ll walk you through the science behind IR fabric, how it benefits the body, and some of the many potential product applications of this cutting-edge technology.
Though it’s invisible, infrared energy is all around us. This versatile electromagnetic wavelength has many sources.
The sun emits energy across the full electromagnetic spectrum, which includes infrared energy. The Earth absorbs this energy and releases it as heat into the atmosphere to warm the planet. Unlike some electromagnetic wavelengths from the sun, such as UVA and UVB rays, infrared wavelengths don’t produce adverse side effects in humans.
Infrared lamps have special light bulbs that emit IR wavelengths, and they’re often used in heaters and saunas. Traditional heating methods warm the air around the body, which takes significant time and energy. Infrared heat is more efficient since it’s absorbed directly by the body. This also allows IR saunas and heating products to operate at lower temperatures, making them safer and more comfortable options.
Bioceramic minerals and metals safely interact with the human body and can be used for therapeutic or medical purposes. These materials can absorb and release heat, making them ideal choices for harnessing the benefits of infrared energy.
Infrared textiles, also called bio-responsive fabrics or IR fabrics, use bioceramics to create materials that emit infrared energy into the body’s skin, muscles and tissues. These textiles have a wide range of applications, including:
CELLIANT creates infrared materials using a proprietary blend of bioceramic minerals. These minerals are chosen for their excellent thermal properties, meaning they effectively absorb the body’s natural heat, transform it into infrared energy and reflect that energy back into the body to support performance and wellness.
Infrared clothing works by using bioceramic materials that emit infrared energy. When worn, the bioresponsive fabric absorbs the body’s heat, converts it into infrared energy, and releases it back into the body’s muscles and tissues. This process increases local circulation and improves cellular oxygenation, which helps the body work more efficiently and can lead to improved athletic performance, faster recovery and more restful sleep.
There are several ways to add infrared-emitting bioceramics to textiles.
This variety of application methods makes infrared-emitting bioceramics suitable for many types of products. Any product made from fabric and meant to come into contact with the skin can benefit from infrared-emitting ceramics. Clothing, bedding, shoes, bandages and cloth diapers are just a few examples of the potential uses of this technology.
Infrared-emitting textiles such as CELLIANT have shown great potential in clinical trials focused on improving athletic performance. A study of aerobically fit cyclists showed a 1.1% improvement in oxygen consumption for the subjects when wearing bioresponsive clothing. 2
A growing body of scientific research shows that infrared textiles may help improve sports recovery and sleep through better cellular oxygenation. Increasing the oxygen level of cells can increase cellular energy, enabling the cells to recover more quickly from strenuous activities. This can also lead to better sleep, with one study showing a median improvement of 2.6% in sleep efficiency from IR fabrics. 3
CELLIANT is dedicated to furthering scientific research on the biological applications of infrared energy. We have 10 published, peer-reviewed studies about the effects of infrared energy on a range of topics, including grip strength, sleep disturbances, blood flow, autoimmune responses, oxygen consumption, and more.
The clinical findings we discuss below show excellent potential for IR fabrics like CELLIANT to improve athletic performance and recovery through increased cellular oxygenation and local blood flow. These peer-reviewed studies feature small sample sizes, and more comprehensive studies are necessary to fully establish the physiological effects of infrared textiles. However, they are a good indication that further research is warranted, and the implications pose exciting possibilities.
Infrared textiles have three primary benefits — increased tissue oxygenation, local circulation, and cellular oxygenation — and each of these responses generates many additional benefits. For example, a boost in tissue oxygen levels has been shown to increase the anaerobic threshold, which helps improve stamina during physical activities.
In one study featuring CELLIANT-powered gloves and stockings, the infrared-emitting textiles increased subjects’ tissue oxygenation by approximately 20%4. In another, subjects showed a mean increase in tissue oxygenation of 6.7%5 after wearing infrared shirts for 90 minutes. These results show great potential for infrared-emitting fabrics to help wearers reap the many benefits of higher tissue oxygenation, including better muscle performance, more restful sleep, and faster recovery times.
Circulation refers to the flow of blood through the body, and local circulation refers to this process in specific areas of the body. For example, a study of infrared stockings showed an approximately 30%6 increase in local circulation in participants’ feet.
Increasing local circulation means more nutrient-rich, oxygenated blood reaches that area, allowing those muscles to perform more effectively. Circulation is also essential for thermoregulation, which is how the body maintains optimal temperatures. This makes infrared textiles perfect to use in sheets and sleepwear for people who often wake up at night because they feel too hot or cold.
Increased cellular oxygenation helps cells operate at peak efficiency to ensure the muscles respond to physical demands and recover quickly to reduce post-workout soreness. Clinical trials demonstrate that CELLIANT can make more oxygen available to the body’s cells, with an average increase of 7%7 and up to 8.4%8. This is significant because cells require oxygen to generate the energy needed to carry out vital functions such as muscle contraction, which enables the body to perform physical activities, and cellular recovery, which is when the cells repair muscles and other tissues.
Our brand partners utilize the power of CELLIANT’s infrared fabrics for performance and recovery in apparel, shoes, pillows, upholstery fabrics, mattresses, medical supplies and more. Below are just a few of the many partnerships we’ve developed.
Over the course of CELLIANT’s long-term partnership with Under Armour, we’ve developed a variety of special collections and evergreen product lines.
Purecare’s mission is to provide better sleep by focusing on whole-body wellness. Using sustainable CELLIANT Viscose, Purecare has created product lines of bio-responsive IR sheets, pillowcases and mattress protectors. These viscose-blend products are silky and luxurious, and they provide all the sleep and recovery benefits that come with IR fabrics.
Mey uses CELLIANT Viscose, a sustainable and plant-based infrared fiber, to create luxury sleepwear. The infrared-emitting fabric turns the body’s natural heat into infrared energy and reflects it back into the skin and muscle tissues. This regulates body temperature and increases local circulation and cellular oxygenation, helping wearers sleep comfortably through the night and wake refreshed.
KT Tape creates kinesiology tape for athletes and fitness enthusiasts. The tape is strategically placed on certain muscle groups, and the CELLIANT materials in the Pro Oxygen tape increase cellular oxygenation and local blood flow in those areas. This can make the perfect addition to a healthy recovery program that supports active lifestyles.
BEAR Mattress harnesses the power of infrared energy by using CELLIANT materials in its mattresses. CELLIANT-infused BEAR mattresses promote better sleep and recovery. Studies indicate that infrared materials help sleepers get an average of 18.3 more minutes of sleep per night9, along with an 8.4% increase in oxygenation10 to help give users more energy.
Infrared clothing and textiles offer exciting possibilities for brands and consumers alike. Brands can gain an advantage over competitors by enhancing the benefits of their product lines with CELLIANT. Consumers can look forward to infrared-infused clothing, shoes, bedding, and more that passively provide health benefits such as better stamina, faster recovery, and more restful sleep.
Learn more about the ins and outs of infrared textiles by reviewing our clinical studies and reading the CELLIANT blog, which answers common questions about how infrared technology works and the many ways it can benefit users. If you’re interested in discussing more with our team, fill out the form below to get in touch.
Below are answers to some of the most common questions about infrared apparel and textiles.
Infrared clothing absorbs the body’s heat, transforms it into beneficial infrared energy, and reflects it back into the body’s skin and tissues.
Infrared energy helps the body in many ways, including increasing cellular oxygenation, improving local circulation, and increasing tissue oxygenation. Improving these essential functions supports optimal athletic performance, faster recovery from muscle soreness and fatigue, and more restful sleep.
No, infrared clothing is considered safe and has no known side effects.
1CELLIANT Pilot Sleep Study. Dr. Marcel Hungs & Dr. Annabel Wang, University of California – Irvine Medical Center, 2010. Results not achieved by all subjects in the study. Further studies are warranted before drawing conclusions as to CELLIANT sleep benefits.
2Apparel with Far Infrared Radiation for Decreasing an Athlete’s Oxygen Consumption During Submaximal Exercise. Dr. Jay Worobets, Dr. Darren Stefanyshyn & Emma Skolnik, University of Calgary, 2011.
3CELLIANT Pilot Sleep Study. Dr. Marcel Hungs & Dr. Annabel Wang, University of California – Irvine Medical Center, 2010. Results not achieved by all subjects in the study. Further studies are warranted before drawing conclusions as to CELLIANT sleep benefits.
4Randomized Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial of Gloves and Stockings Made from Infrared-Emitting Fabric (CELLIANT®) for Transcutaneous Oxygen and Peripheral Blood Flow in Diabetic Patients with Vascular Impairment. Dr. Lawrence A. Lavery, Dr. Michael R. Hamblin & Kathryn Davis, Loyola University Chicago, 2022. The trends that were observed in favor of CELLIANT stockings suggest that a larger well-designed clinical trial should be undertaken, and may provide evidence of clinical efficacy in treatment of the diabetic foot.
5Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing the Effects of Far-Infrared Emitting Ceramic Fabric Shirts and Control Polyester Shirts on Transcutaneous PO2. Dr. Ian Gordon, James Wason, Dr. Lawrence Lavery, Dr. Michael R Hamblin & MS Thein, Long Beach VA Memorial Hospital, Journal of Textile Science and Engineering. 2018. The present study has added to the body of evidence that suggest that IR-emitting garments can exert real measurable physiological effects, and deserve further study for medical indications.
6Randomized Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial of Gloves and Stockings Made from Infrared-Emitting Fabric (CELLIANT®) for Transcutaneous Oxygen and Peripheral Blood Flow in Diabetic Patients with Vascular Impairment. Dr. Lawrence A. Lavery, Dr. Michael R. Hamblin & Kathryn Davis, Loyola University Chicago, 2022. The trends that were observed in favor of CELLIANT stockings suggest that a larger well-designed clinical trial should be undertaken, and may provide evidence of clinical efficacy in treatment of the diabetic foot.
7Transcutaneous Partial Pressure of Oxygen (tcPO2) as a Primary Endpoint to Assess the Efficacy of CELLIANT® as a Vasoactive Material. Dr. Ian Gordon & Dr. Michael Coyle, Long Beach VA Memorial Hospital, 2012.
8Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing the Effects of Far-Infrared Emitting Ceramic Fabric Shirts and Control Polyester Shirts on Transcutaneous PO2. Dr. Ian Gordon, James Wason, Dr. Lawrence Lavery, Dr. Michael R Hamblin & MS Thein, Long Beach VA Memorial Hospital, Journal of Textile Science and Engineering. 2018. The present study has added to the body of evidence that suggest that IR-emitting garments can exert real measurable physiological effects, and deserve further study for medical indications.
9CELLIANT Pilot Sleep Study. Dr. Marcel Hungs & Dr. Annabel Wang, University of California – Irvine Medical Center, 2010. Results not achieved by all subjects in the study. Further studies are warranted before drawing conclusions as to CELLIANT sleep benefits.
10Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing the Effects of Far-Infrared Emitting Ceramic Fabric Shirts and Control Polyester Shirts on Transcutaneous PO2. Dr. Ian Gordon, James Wason, Dr. Lawrence Lavery, Dr. Michael R Hamblin & MS Thein, Long Beach VA Memorial Hospital, Journal of Textile Science and Engineering. 2018. The present study has added to the body of evidence that suggest that IR-emitting garments can exert real measurable physiological effects, and deserve further study for medical indications.
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