Wilmington, DE, September 23, 2010. Billabong, the premier brand for surfing apparel and gear, is leveraging the recent program launched by drirelease? and New Apparel Science to deliver surf tees to its core audience.
The Chalked Up Surf T, which is made of drirelease Cotton, is a men's t-shirt that has been in Billabong's line-up for the past eight years. "Billabong's commitment to the drirelease surf tee is something we're very proud of, given the great performance it delivers to their core audience," said Chris Moore, General Manager of Optimer Labs. "Our recent partnership with New Apparel Science will ensure that Billabong and other customers have easy access to the great drirelease products their users know and love with minimal complexity for their brands" concluded Moore.
"We've been selling the drirelease shirt as a surf shirt for the past 8 years because of its quick-dry properties and how well the garment retains its shape," said Hub Hubbard, Product Manager for Billabong. The shirt, which has superior moisture wicking and quick-drying properties and also contains FreshGuard? odor control, has become a favorite among surfers because it provides a protective layer against abrasion and requires minimum upkeep. Peter Mendia, one of the Billabong Team Riders who has sampled the shirt from Carmel commented "The drirelease surf tees are the go . . . they're light and easy. More comfortable than a rash guard and better than a t-shirt." Hub Hubbard, who is himself a surfer, added "the quick drying properties [of drirelease] and FreshGuard let you wear [the shirt] in and out of the water for days on end, which is great for a traveling surfer."
About Optimer Brands
Optimer Brands, formerly known as Optimer Performance Fibers, a Sterling Capital Partners company, is based in Wilmington, DE.
Founded in 2001, Optimer Brands conducts textile research, development and marketing and has a scientific staff credited with over 100 patents and developments.
drirelease? is a registered trademark of Optimer Brands. It is a patented, intimate blend of synthetic and natural fibers that combine wicking and quick drying attributes into a single yarn. Instead of spreading the moisture across a fabric's surface, drirelease actually pushes it to the outside of a garment, releasing water and perspiration faster than any other performance fabric on the market. drirelease includes the added benefit of FreshGuard?, an odor neutralizer embedded in all drirelease fabrics that virtually eliminates odor without using harmful chemicals. All drirelease attributes are inherent to our yarns, meaning they will not wear or wash out. For more information, visit http://www.drirelease.com.
FreshGuard? is a registered trademark of Optimer Brands. It is an odor neutralizer embedded in all drirelease fabrics. It eliminates odors in garments by blocking odor-causing sebaceous body oils from attaching to the fabric – also stopping the attraction of odor-causing bacteria. Not an anti-microbial or anti-bacterial, which attack bacteria that possess positive functions, FreshGuard is environmentally friendly. For more information, visit http://www.drirelease.com.
About Billabong
Billabong produces active lifestyle clothing, accessories and related products designed and distributed to a worldwide customer base of board riders. The products are developed in the authentic environment of the surf culture and sold primarily through surf and specialty retailers.
Billabong event schedule is second to none: it hosts Hawaii's Pipeline Masters, Tahiti, South Africa, Brazil and Portugal World Contest Tour professional contests as well as the XXL Big Wave Challenge and awards party. The Billabong Girl's division hosts the Billabong Maui Pro and Design For Humanity two highlights in the women's world. In addition, Billabong supports the grass roots with Grom Comps and Junior Pro series and sponsors Surf Camps around the world.
Billabong-branded products are tested and improved by the best board sport performers across the globe. With 3-time world champ Andy Irons, 2-time World runner-up Joel Parkinson, and #1 ranked Taj Burrow, big wave legends Shane Dorian and XXL winner Mike Parsons, the professional team is unmatched. National Amateur Champions Keanu Asing and Courtney Conlogue head a top-rated amateur team. Three-time X-Game Gold Medalist snowboarder Jamie Anderson, surfer/musician Donavon Frankenreiter, former World Champ Mark Occhilupo and Environmentalist of the Year Dave Rastovich add firepower to the brand, along with top selling videos like Still Filthy (Surfer Magazine Movie of the Year) and the wakeboarding video Out of the Pond (Wake Magazine video of the year.)
All this bestows Billabong with a deep-rooted authenticity in the boardsports world. Active enthusiasts in every department from marketing and sales, to design and merchandising, bring a genuineness and unique quality to both the innovative products and related events produced by the Billabong brand.
About New Apparel Science
New Apparel Science is an apparel producer of performance active lifestyle apparel. Together with its sister company Carmel Textiles Inc., NAS benefits from Carmel's extensive technical trade experience to offer its customers unique products. Carmel Textiles has been producing and providing fabrics for 30 years to all the majo fashion jackets r brands in the apparel industry. We combine advanced fiber technology and fabrics to create the most practical, functional, performance apparel possible. We call this process the "science of comfort." By manufacturing from the fiber forward, NAS provides its customers with competitive prices as well as flexible private label options.
In a combined effort with Optimer Brands, NAS is producing the Zte line of performance drirelease t-shirts. These performance shirts are the ultimate in comfort and ease of care. All the performance attributes are built into the fiber, giving the wearer the comfort of knowing that they will be durable for the life time of the garment. These shirts are perfect for embellishment in either sublimation or basic printing. We are very excited about bringing the Zte brand to market. Open stock is available to the trade starting mid-November 2010.
Media Contact:
Ana Torres
Director of Marketing
1.312.878.0806
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A surfing t-shirt is a relatively new style shirt. These are basically t-shirts, loose fitting, but have added sun protection. A regular t-shirt only has an SPF of 5, whereas a designated surf shirt has at least 50+ SPF..
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