LifeLabs, the Palo Alto, California-based material science company founded in a Stanford University laboratory, has been awarded a Best Product Award in ISPO’s Autumn/Winter Textrends for its new AI-CLO WarmLife merino wool insulated fill.

Overall, seven AI-CLO products from LifeLabs received ISPO awards across different product categories. The ISPO Awards represent the best in innovation and design within the sports industry and are decided by a jury of international and independent experts.

WarmLife, which was named the Best Product winner in ISPO’s Membranes and Coatings category, is a proprietary technology used to create warmer breathable apparel using less material. The crucial ingredient in WarmLife is a nano-metallic coating that reflects radiant body heat directly back to the wearer’s skin to deliver the same warmth as items that use 30% more insulating material.

The AI-CLO System from LifeLabs is designed to regulate body temperature and reduce energy consumption. It uses two patented technologies, WarmLife and CoolLife, to provide temperature control solutions for functional clothing across environmental conditions ranging from –65°C to +45°C.

An ultra-packable and breathable fabric, WarmLife is created from 97% recycled and bio-based content and the nano-metallic coating in the material uses less than one paper clip worth of metal. It’s also 30% lighter and uses 30% less material than comparable items of similar warmth for a better warmth-to-weight ratio.

Not only can WarmLife reflect the wearer’s body heat in cold conditions, it can also release excess body heat after activity to help maintain a smart balance of body temperature and deliver optimal comfort. In addition to being used in a nonwoven insulation blended with merino wool – as in the case of the fabric that won the ISPO Best Product Award – WarmLife can also be used as a laminated textile.

The Al-CLO temperature control technology system of fibres and textiles from LifeLabs also includes a second patented technology called CoolLife. The world’s first thermally transparent fabric, CoolLife continuously cools the body more than any other material. It is cooler to the touch than organic cotton, and with half the environmental impact. The CoolLife full dull nylon polyethylene single mesh interlock fabric was named one of ISPO’s Top 10 Products in the Base Layer category.

Both WarmLife and CoolLife technologies were developed over more than three years of laboratory and field testing by Professor Yi Cui,director of Stanford’s Sustainability Accelerator. With 14% of global energy consumption coming from heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC), he initially developed the AI-CLO temperature technologies – which feature 14 global patents – to help reduce the heavy burden of HVAC energy on the grid.

“The outdoor sports industry is inherently motivated to help provide solutions to the world’s largest environmental problems,” said Professor Cui. “It is an honour to receive the ISPO award, as it motivates my team to continue their search for solutions that enable people to live a better and more comfortable life, whilst reducing their personal carbon footprint and impact on the world.”

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