The European Ryder Cup Team hase an extra advantage over the USA at Celtic Manor – the world’s ‘cleverest’ golf shirts!
While the colours and designs of The European Team’s match shirts were kept tightly under wraps until the first day of the Ryder Cup, Preferred Suppliers Glenmuir have revealed that they all feature ThermoCool™, one of the world’s most advanced fabric technologies.
ThermoCool™ is a unique blend of hollow and solid fibres that interact with the golfer and allow for outstanding body temperature regulation across a wide range of temperatures.
When it’s warm and the user is hot and perspiring, the fibres provides evaporative cooling, allowing vapour to escape and keeping the user cool and comfortable.
When it’s cooler, the fibres reduce exposure to external temperatures by trapping body heat and creating a barrier to keep the user warm and thermo regulated – a process known as ‘thermo-buffering’.
Developed by Advansa, one of the world’s leading synthetic fibre developers, ThermoCool™ was chosen by Glenmuir in consultation with European Ryder Cup Team Captain, Colin Montgomerie, because of the possibility of fluctuating weather conditions at Celtic Manor.
Colin Mee, Glenmuir Managing Director, said: “In designing The European Ryder Cup Team shirts and sweaters with Colin, we had to take into account the variety of weather conditions that the players might face and find a shirt fabric that would perform as efficiently in blazing sunshine as it would under several layers if the players had to wrap up against the wind and rain.
“ThermoCool™ has been specifically developed for situations where users experience periods of low activity and high activity and cool and warm temperatures.
“In essence, this made it perfect for this year’s Ryder Cup because players’ activity levels – as well as external weather conditions during several hours of a round – can change on a frequent basis.”
ThermoCool™ blends a combination of hollow core fibres with fibres with a channelled surface. In periods of high activity the multi-channel fibres give superb moisture transport, allowing sweat to evaporate, while the hollow fibres provide an evaporative cooling effect by allowing cool air in to create enhanced air circulation.
In periods of lower activity or cooler temperatures, the hollow voids in the fabric still allow excess heat from the body to dissipate into the air, but thermobuffering properties protect the user from the cold external air.
The fibres can then be mixed with other yarns, like polyester and elastane, to create the finished shirt fabric.
Golfers and Ryder Cup supporters can experience ThermoCool for themselves with Glenmuir’s exclusive Ryder Cup Fanwear – the company’s Coldra and Wentwood shirts feature the technology – as well as in their seasonal Autumn/Winter 2010 collection with the Performance Curve shirt.
Official Glenmuir European Team Ryder Cup shirts – as worn by the players – can be bought during the event from www.rydercup.com.
Glenmuir www.glenmuir.com