A form of underwear designed to eliminate odor from passed gas is garnering attention, reports Weekly Playboy (May 11).
The product line is called Inoidore Shukan Shoshu, a series of deodorized undershorts and t-shirts developed by textile company Seiren, which is based in Fukui Prefecture. The garments hit the market on April 16, with a pair of men’s briefs going for a rather pricey 4,800 yen.
“Our company has developed various odor-erasing products in the past. But this one can reduce odor by 80 percent in 30 seconds,” explains Tadao Fujitsubo, the vice-director of the company’s R&D center, of the product’s purifying power, which is displayed graphically on the Inodore Web page and whose strength is said to diminish only slightly after 200 washes.
Fujitsubo then proceeds to fill two containers with ammonia gas. One also includes average cotton and the other has a sample of Inoidore’s special fabric, which is a textile that contains ceramic particles and metallic ions within the fibers. After shaking each vigorously five or 6 times, the weekly’s reporter applies the nose test, which indeed reveals no odor emitting from the fabric-containing jar.
It appears that that the product is effective, the article concludes, but will it work in an actual scenario, even one in which the broken wind emanates from, well, an especially pungent person?
Fujitsubo answers affirmatively: “We are very confident as we have conducted more than enough experiments. For the past two and a half years, five of our R&D staff members spent their time dedicated to this research, some of which was carried out at their homes.”
The weekly’s writer then wonders: at their homes?
“Family members and friends didn’t offer to help in checking the efficacy of the products,” the researcher adds. “So we [members] passed gas inside of futons themselves to check how much odor was being diminished. In the early stages, when the product had little effect, we were thinking to ourselves, ‘Why are we doing this?’”
Wow, beams Weekly Playboy, what dedication in the name of product development! Further challenging for Fujitsubo was that his daughter, in her 20s, had little interest in the situation unfolding at the household. However, one day things changed.
“A local paper had a special article on this subject and showed that these these products are needed at nursing homes,” Fujitsubo says. “My family began to see the significance of this work, and even my daughter started to help me in the testing — yes, with her nose.”
With support from the family, the product was finally completed and now is on the market with more-than-expected sales. The story adds that the products are also useful with regards to karei-shu, a strong odor common among middle-aged men.
The weekly’s scribe received a pair of the undies as a souvenir and tried them for himself — with total satisfaction! The writer continues, all right, one down, now what about the sound?