Wool shirt passes 100-day sniff test

Wool&Prince also says its shirts will stay wrinkle free. Photo / Supplied

Commuters familiar with musty rush-hour train carriages may not believe it, but a company claims to have invented a shirt that can be worn for 100 days without being washed.

Wool&Prince, an American firm, says its new wool shirt can go months without being cleaned because the fabric is naturally resistant to odours.

The shirts will also never need to be ironed because the material does not wrinkle, the company said.

The shirts, which are dry-clean or gentle-wash only, use wool fibres which can be bent back on themselves 20,000 times without breaking, compared with cotton which bends only 3200 times.

This means the fabric can be repeatedly crushed and stretched out and retains its original shape, the company said.

Wool resists accumulating odour because it is more efficient than other fabrics at absorbing sweat - which itself has no smell - and evaporating it into thin air before bacteria develop.

The garments were given to 15 "testers" who wore them while performing energetic activities such as backpacking in the Andes and dancing in a nightclub. A company spokesman said the testers affirmed its claims about the fabric's odour and wrinkle-free properties.

Investors who helped fund the company on the crowd-sourcing website Kickstart are being offered the garments for £63 ($114). Normal retail prices have yet to be announced.

A Wool&Prince spokesman said it did not expect anyone to try going more than three months without washing their shirt, but added: "If you want to go for the 100 Day Challenge, we aren't going to stop you."