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Copyright November 15, 1999 The Toronto Star
By Vinay Menon
Toronto Star Pop Culture Reporter

Never mind how they look or how they fit, shopping for clothes in the next century may require a new sensory consideration: How do they smell?

In this age of potpourri, scented candles, designer perfumes and air fresheners - an age when aromatherapy has gained a startling number of adherents - it's little surprise that some garment manufacturers are developing clothes for the nose.

This year, three South Korean companies - LG Fashion, Essess Heartist and Kolon International - started selling pine-, lavender- and peppermint-scented suits. Within a couple of weeks, more than 4,000 suits had been sold.

LG Fashion's Los Angeles outlet recently sold out its Maestro line - lavender-enhanced casual and formal wear - in less than a month.

Aside from Internet sales, few of these products are readily available in Canada. But as Charles Low, president of the Canadian Cosmetic Toiletry and Fragrance Association, says: ``I think we'll see this (here) in the immediate future, because there is interest.''

The Maestro suits, which cost between $300 and $500 (U.S.), are made with chemical-soaked fabrics that release a scent when the material moves. It's good for 20 dry cleanings.

"Scent wear'' is a logical next step for textile manufacturers who are already concocting a dizzying array of fabrics and treatments to meet fickle and whimsical fashion demands, explains Bob Kirke, executive director of the Canadian Apparel Federation.

"Ten years ago, you would see cotton and the odd man-made fibre, but you were within a reasonably narrow range of fabrics,'' Kirke says. "Now it's ridiculous. There are demands throughout the marketplace to integrate the most bizarre fibres and treatments into fabrics. Frankly, all of this is an outgrowth of that.''

There's another - perhaps more practical - side to the scent-wear spectrum: Companies like Seattle-based HaloSource Corp. are using similar technology to take the smell out of fabrics.

The HaloSource treatment grafts antimicrobial compounds on to a fabric, where they are said to kill bacteria and fungi - the cause of unpleasant odours.

The first product being developed is an anti-odour sock that is expected to hit store shelves by spring, says Renee Shallis, HaloSource's marketing manager.

Pennsylvania-based Noble Fiber Technologies is already producing an anti-odour sport sock that debuted in a New York fashion show last month. The company's X-Static line uses silver-coated nylon to combat odour.

But will the scent of clothing turn into the smell of money for clothing manufacturers?

For years, some lines of Japanese clothing have had scents - especially pizza and cola - baked into the fabric. In Britain, chocolate and beer scents have been used.

The French now dominate the scented-lingerie market. In Italy, last year the sportswear brand Exte introduced a line of denim smelling of pine.

"This idea has come up over the years but never really taken off,'' says Annette Green, president of the U.S.-based Fragrance Foundation and author of Secrets of Aromatic Jewelry.

"Throughout history, people's attitudes toward fragrances have gone in cycles,'' Green says, adding the perfume fragrance industry is now worth more than $6 billion (U.S.) in North America alone.

"There are times when they are essential, then they go down to being a luxury. It's all cycles.''

In Japan, fragrances are routinely infused into heating and ventilation systems to boost worker productivity, while in Paris, the subway system inked a contract with a major fragrance house last year to add scents to the transit air system.

Some malls have been known to pump bergamot and cinnamon into the air, and some travel agencies add the scent of coconut to subliminally entice prospective customers with exotic associations.

But Gina Pia Cooper, founder and editor of Fashion Finds, an online style and culture magazine out of New York, says scented clothes are another thing and could prove to be an especially hard sell in North America.

Last year, for example, scented products were banned from most public places in Nova Scotia. A similar initiative was proposed in Prince Edward Island in September.

Throughout the country, some offices and public places have even been declared "fragrance-free'' zones - where perfume and other scented products are banned due to allergies.

"Putting something in clothing makes it almost indelible,'' Cooper says. "With everybody so highly allergic and sensitive, I'm not sure how popular this could ever be here.''