‘...It is one of the strengths of the English language that it just keeps on developing - new words, new meanings. Keeping cool in sports activewear would normally mean just that. Staying cool and comfortable. Then came the concept of cool as being the in-thing, smart on the streets. To that, add in the meaning of avoiding stress, as in 'keep your cool'.

Now put them altogether into a clothing system which could have added
medical benefits. That is what Adrenaline-REsearch*, a team at the Tweed Horizons Centre for Sustainable Technology based in Melrose, Scotland, has been doing.

Studying the effect of temperature control and clothes in relation to mankind's ability to control it's temper, Adrenaline found that our central nervous system, more than 3lbs (1.361kg) of vital nerve wiring which makes up our brain and spinal cord, is very sensitive to changes in temperature. According to the unit, human thermograms show that the brain and spinal cord warm up rapidly as stress increases...

The body of the shirt is made of air-trapping fabric to help keep the body warm but also incorporates a cool 'Adrenalin' fabric zone, using a special polyester high wicking fibre, along the length of the spine, to assist spinal nerves to interact with the environment... Tests done in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh's Scottish College of Textiles, have led to a selection of fabric materials having both optimum TOG (CLO) insulatory capacity together with the required high wickability.

In fact, the CLOtherapy philosophy is to mirror the human body's insulation by covering the skin with warm air-trapping fabric where everybody tends to accumulate fat/muscle, and relatively less TOG value of insulatory capacity covering the body's sweatier (heat exchange) zones... &quote; With gentle warm-up exercises, chilling-out wearing our polo shirt encourages and trains a healthy, more youthful thermo-regulatory response." claims Nicholas Dynes Gracey, a medical biochemist and now clothes inventor....

Imagine your opponent on the golf course sinking all those pressure putts because of his polo shirt. It's enough to make you lose your cool...’