You know that feeling halfway up a climb or two hours into a ride when your gear is so soaked you start to feel like a wet sponge? Yeah. COOLMAX® fiber was literally designed to squash that feeling.
COOLMAX® fiber is a specially engineered fiber that wicks sweat away from the body, keeping you cool and dry. It's been doing it for over 30 years. Not by magic, and not with a coating that washes out after a season. The cooling and moisture-wicking are baked into the fiber itself — which means it works just as hard on wash 50 as it did on day one.
HOW COOLMAX® FIBER WORKS: THE SCIENCE OF MOISTURE-WICKING
Your skin sweats to cool you down — but that only works if the sweat actually evaporates. The problem is that most fabrics just absorb moisture and hold onto it, so you stay wet and uncomfortable. You can thank the shape and properties of the fibers for that.
Most fibers are round, and their characteristics naturally want to “hold on” to the moisture. This is why you’re still damp.
Picture a standard fiber in cross-section — it's basically a tiny circle. Not much surface area. Moisture hits it and just... sits there.
COOLMAX® fiber is shaped differently. This advanced fiber, typically made from polyester or other synthetic fibers, has tiny grooves running along its surface. Those grooves (or channels) act like little gutters — they help move sweat away from your skin. The moisture travels along the grooves outward through the fabric, away from your body.
Once it reaches the outer surface, it's spread across a much bigger area than if it had just pooled in one spot — and the more spread out moisture is, the faster it evaporates. So the grooves do two jobs: move the sweat away from your skin, and spread it out so it evaporates quickly. The more your sweat spreads out, the faster it evaporates — and the faster it evaporates, the more comfortable you feel. It's thermodynamics working in your favor.
The result is that you feel cooler and drier even when you're sweating hard.
HOW COOLMAX® FIBER WORKS
KEY BENEFITS OF COOLMAX® FIBER
MOISTURE-WICKING
Sweat moves away from your body to keep you feeling dry
COOL COMFORT
Less sweat on your skin + drier fabric = a cooler body
BREATHABLE
Because nothing feels better than air flow on your skin when you’re sweating
DURABLE PERFORMANCE
Fiber-based technology means the benefits won’t wash out
TESTED & CERTIFIED
Fabrics can only carry the COOLMAX® brand name when they’ve been tested and certified against our strict performance standards
EASY CARE
Wear it, wash it, stuff it in your bag — no worries
WHERE IS COOLMAX® FIBER USED? COMMON APPLICATIONS
COOLMAX® fiber works wherever comfort and performance overlap — which turns out to be a lot of places:
Socks
Jeans and everyday pants
Shirts of all kinds, from outdoor adventures to office days
Sportswear tops and bottoms
Bedding (for the hot sleepers out there)
Cycling pads and shoe soles
Intimate apparel
Workwear
Look for the COOLMAX® brand name on hang tags or garments the next time you’re shopping for high-performance, moisture-wicking gear.
Brands using certified COOLMAX® fibers can order free hang tags on the LYCRA ONE™ portal — so your customers know exactly what's in your awesome stuff.
COOLMAX® FIBER AND SUSTAINABILITY: RECYCLED POLYESTER, ECO-FRIENDLY PERFORMANCE
We're all spending time outside because we love it there. So caring for the planet? It matters.
COOLMAX® brand makes a range of products with recycled polyester, keeping you cool and dry with a lighter touch on the planet.
COOLMAX CloakFX™ fiber: Hides sweat stains, crafted with 93% recycled polyester
COOLMAX® EcoMade fiber: Moisture-wicking, cooling performance from 100% recycled materials
COOLMAX® ALL SEASON fiber: Year-round comfort crafted with at least 90% post-consumer recycled resources
COOLMAX® freshFX® fiber: Moisture-wicking garments that stay fresher longer, made with at least 90% recycled PET bottles
COOLMAX® PRO EcoMade fiber: Cooling performance for demanding conditions, made from 100% recycled PET bottles
All of our sustainable COOLMAX® brand products are certified by third parties. Our fibers from recycled PET bottles are Global Recycled Standard Certified (GRS), and our fibers from textile waste are Recycled Claim Standard Certified (RCS).
HOW TO CARE FOR COOLMAX® FABRIC
Caring for COOLMAX® fabric is straightforward. Because the performance is built into the fiber, you don't need any special detergents or treatments to maintain it.
Machine wash cold — hot water isn't necessary
Avoid fabric softeners — they can coat the fibers and reduce wicking efficiency
Tumble dry low, or air dry for best longevity
No dry cleaning required
Simple care, lasting performance.
