LOT 'O' DRY™ is the product of hard work from a performance-obsessed development team operating in the Research and Development Department of Tessitura Taiana Virgilio.
"LOT" ‘O’ DRY™" is a proprietary technology from Taiana with quite exceptional hydrophobic characteristics. It came to light a few years ago but has been in a state of continuous development and improvement since its inception since we can be regarded as having been experts in superhydrophobia for more than 20 years now.
LOT 'O' DRY™ is not just a hydrophobic application product, but a genuinely integrated system that takes account of all the factors that affect final performance, starting from raw materials, the textile structure of the material and the finishing and testing processes.
It is only be integrating all of these elements, in what amounts to a holistic technological vision, are we able to deliver great performance that is repeated over time.
LOT 'O' DRY™ is a technology that provides consumers with products of the highest perceived value"
Matteo Taiana
Head of Research and Development
LOT 'O' DRY™ is the brand for the technology able to produce the Lotus Effect
Nature can be seen as the project par excellence, the fruit of evolutionary processes that have been ongoing for over 3 billion years, producing the continuous optimisation of organisms to generate incredibly effective materials, structures and mechanisms, whose performance often exceeds that of corresponding human inventions.
LOT 'O' DRY™ is the result of research and development efforts rooted in a biomimetic approach to design. This approach draws inspiration from natural organisms that have evolved over millions of years, as we seek to produce the most advanced products and processes possible.
LOT 'O' DRY™ imitates the peculiarities of the lotus, whose leaf never gets wet and seems to be entirely “self-cleaning”.
LOT 'O' DRY™ is an integrated system that draws on all the elements that contribute to water repellence, starting from the raw materials, addressing the question of textile structure and through to the finishing and testing processes.
Only by bringing together and integrating each of these elements, with a technologically holistic vision, are we able to ensure excellence of performance in terms of Water Pick Up, Water Glide and Life Span.
Unlike the water-repellent products commonly encountered on the market, which tend to develop one or two of these features, LOT 'O' DRY™ succeeds in maximising all three aspects.
Super Hydrophobic Surface (Contact angle over 150°)
High breathability (99% transpiration capacity of the starting tissue remains unchanged)
Limited Water Pick-Up (less than 20% weight gain after an hour’s immersion in water)
Water Glide (very low friction of the water on the surface of the fabric, with very low surface tension)
Long Life Performance (Life Span optimised to endure for up to 50 washing and drying cycles)
Notable ability to handle body humidity levels
Respect for health and the environment (compliant with REACH EC Regulation 1907/2006)
These features mean that Taiana LOT 'O' DRY™ technology products are truly superhydrophobic, when measured with contact angles greater than 150°.
The performance is the result of very low fabric surface tension, observable by the speed at which water droplets slide over the surface of the fabric.
Fabrics made using LOT 'O' DRY™ technology thus have very limited water absorption even under extreme conditions, while at the same time they are able to breathe with a facility that is wholly comparable with the capacity of untreated fabrics.
The performance is also permanent, due to the highly sophisticated application methods used that mean every single strand of the fabric is rendered hydrophobic.
All fabrics in the TAIANA range can be treated with LOT 'O' DRY™ technology. The treatment is not applied simply during the finishing process but is involved at each and every stage in production to ensure the most effective final result possible.
The fact is that because of the thorough study of raw materials, fabric structure and production process, LOT 'O' DRY™ technology can also be applied to rigid polyamide and polyester fabrics.
This is not all, the special manner of application also ensures that stretch fabrics using Polyurethane-Elastane and Polyester-Elastane perform well even if subject to tension and stretching when in use, even under the most extreme conditions.