Future fashion: science gets stylish when designers create clothing from new high-tech fibers.

Forget about Guess, the Gap, and Express. The hottest fashions have nothing to do with famous designers or fancy stores. Instead, scientists are inventing new products that are changing the way we dress.

Thanks to high-tech fibers, clothes adapt better to our bodies and are even earth-friendly. And some "fashion science" is quite outrageous--imagine sneakers made of a gel the conforms to your feet ever) time you put them on!

Here's a brief walk down the runway of the future. . . as designed by chemists and materials engineers!

FANTASTIC PLASTIC

Could you be chic and environmentally correct the same time? You'll be happy to know that scientist at Wellman in Johnsonville, S.C., have figured out how to turn ordinary trash into trendy garments.

Wellman makes Ecospun, polyester fiber, from recycled plastic bottles that once he soda or water. At their factory, workers run machines that sort, clean, and chop the plastic bottles into flakes. The flakes are melted down into a liquid that can be poured through a spinneret, a device that acts like a shower-head. The spinneret squirts out melted plastic in the form of long, strong fibers. A blast of cool air helps turn the liquid plastic back into a solid.

Wellman ships the fiber to fabric makers across the country. Fabric makers weave the plastic fibers into material that clothing manufacturers make into dresses and jackets--just like any other polyester material.

COOL TO THE MAX!

Talk about getting into a sweat over a cool new synthetic fiber! CoolMax, developed by DuPont Performance Fabrics, is designed to draw moisture to the surface of garments. This is important, because the more you and your clothes "sweat," the cooler you feel.

Why? Moisture on the surface of skin or clothing evaporates, or turns into water vapor. Evaporation is a type of phase change, the process by which a substance changes from one state of matter into another (for example, liquid changing into gas). Phase changes involve a transfer of heat energy. People cool off as their sweat dries because the evaporating moisture transfers heat from their bodies to the surrounding air.

CoolMax aids this process, explains Tom Beck of DuPont. The fiber is designed with microscopic oval-shaped channels. The channels create a drainage system that draws perspiration to the surface of the garment. DuPont researchers say the fabric lets sweat evaporate twice as fast as cotton.

WORKIN' OUT

Fashion engineers haven't forgotten athletics. How would you like to compete in a pair of "compression shorts" designed to surround and support your muscles? These body-hugging garments do more than make you look good--they actually help your athletic performance.

A five-year study at the Center for Sports Medicine at Pennsylvania State University shows that athletic gear made from PowerLycra compressive fabrics improves athletic performance by an average of 12 percent. The fabric's slight squeeze reduces muscle vibration, according to William Kramaer, the scientist who conducted the study. Reducing vibration lessens fatigue. And less fatigue means more power, strength, and endurance.

Compression shorts are made from an improved version of spandex, a stretchy material invented in 1959. Like polyester, spandex is made from polymers, long flexible chains made up of smaller molecules called monomers. Clothing made of polymers can stretch and bounce back.

TREAT FOR THE FEET

Smart shoppers will also want to check out the very latest shoes made from IntelliGel, a responsive gel that's already making some in-line skates and golf shoes more comfortable. Responsive gels are wiggly substances made up of one or more polymers and a solvent, a liquid that dissolves a solid into a solution.

When responsive-gel shoes sit in the closet, the gel (encased in a plastic liner inside the shoe) remains a liquid. But when a person slips his or her foot into the shoe, the liquid firms up into a solid that conforms to the exact shape of the foot. Take the shoe off, and the gel "melts" back into a liquid.

You might think a material that melts when cooled and solidifies when warmed is pretty strange. Responsive gels can make these surprising phase changes because they are engineered to respond to "signals"--in this case, a change in temperature.

"The secret is in the chemical reaction between the polymer and the solvent," says John Tauriello of IntelliGel. "The polymer strands can either repel or attract each other [depending on temperature]. When the strands attract, IntelliGel becomes firm. When they repel, IntelliGel becomes soft."

That's it for Science World's fashion update. The reviews are in, and the critics agree--science has become chic.

RELATED ARTICLE: Fashion Breakouts

Sneakers

In 1868, the Candee Manufacturing Company of New Haven, Conn., created `croquet sandals.' canvas shoes with rubber soles. People called the new shoes `speakers' because they made no noise.

Zipper 

An engineer named Whitcomb Judson invented the zipper in 1891. Judson's version consisted of hooks and eyes joined by a moving slide. Later inventors substituted two rows of interlocking teeth for the eyes and hooks. A wedge forces the teeth together or apart.

Polyester

Polyester fabric is made from polymer fibers. Polymers can be stretched because their long chains of molecules can unwind. Although polyester was developed about 1929, the fabric became most popular in the 1970s.

Nylon

Invented in 1935, nylon replaced silk in women's stockings. Nylon is also made from compounds that have been polymerized, the process of making large molecules from smaller ones. It can take as many as 200,000 small molecules to make a single polymer.

Velcro

Swiss engineer Georges de Mestral noticed that thistle blossoms had tiny hooks that clung to his clothing. In 1948, he developed two nylon strips, one with thousands of tiny hooks, the other with tiny loops, which "locked" when pressed together.