During his freshman year on a hot summer day four years ago, Sam Sanders was rushing to a presentation in a white shirt, frantic and sweating uncontrollably.

Sanders was frustrated by the sweat. He said he wanted to create a simple sweat-wicking T-shirt for everyday use, so he decided to do some research. Inspired by a passion for entrepreneurship he developed during high school, Sanders approached fellow Syracuse University freshman Michael Shaw about potentially starting a business for this market, and the two paired up.

Today, Sanders and Shaw are both seniors and have spent their four years at SU developing Wundershirt, a T-shirt designed to enhance athletic performance. As they prepare to graduate, Sanders and Shaw are hoping to take the Wundershirt business even further and compete with larger companies.

To create the Wundershirt, Sanders, an entrepreneurship, finance and supply chain management triple major, had to do some research. He worked with nanofabric technology, which uses minerals embedded in fabric to increase blood flow and oxygen.

In each strand of fabric in the shirt, photocatalysts at the nanoscopic level react to heat and are converted into infrared energy. Sanders explained that this allows capillaries in the lungs to take in more oxygen without requiring more effort. Though originally planning to solve just his own sweat problem, after more research, Sanders realized he could extend his tee shirt idea to athletes.

The Wundershirt product currently sells for $65, but both Sanders and Shaw, a marketing and management double major, said that it is really intended for triathletes and people serious about athletics. Because of the product’s temperature-regulating effects, the shirt may even potentially present a market for burn victims who are sensitive to heat.

Sanders and Shaw said that in the future, they hope Wundershirt will extend to top tier sports teams such as the New York Giants, and match larger apparel companies like Nike and Under Armour.

“If Nike and Under Armour can price their dri-fits at $40 or $50, (Wundershirt) is a more premium product,” Sahw said. “So if we price it under that, it devalues it. The price point is a very important part of marketing.”

Getting the business started was the first challenge, as the pair lacked both prominent financial backing and the feasibility for large orders to be produced. Sanders and Shaw began working to make connections with other companies in the industry.

Sanders said the first Wundershirt prototype was a flop, as the shirt was too hot and caused those wearing it to overheat. So the team turned to researching case studies and tests completed at nearly ten universities and facilities, including the University of Texas A&M and Henry Ford Hospital.

With more research, Sanders said the shirt’s design began to improve. They connected with research companies to test out other design options, experimenting with different blends of materials until Sanders and Shaw were happy with the design.

The product provides four benefits to biologically improve performance, including temperature regulation, reducing pain at a faster rate, speeding up recovery time and decreasing fatigue during a workout, according to the Wundershirt website.

Their competition, Sanders explained, is Nike’s Dri-Fit technology, which works by attempting to relieve muscle pain through compression. Instead, he said Wundershirt physically restores energy into the body.

He added that the idea behind Wundershirt is that the more heat produced while working out, the greater the benefits.

Fitness enthusiast and Wundershirt client Hannah Nussbaum had a good experience with the product. Nussbaum had previously been recovering from an injury that prevented her from playing basketball, and said that after playing in her shirt, she felt she was able to perform closer to her regular standards.

Another client is SU Chancellor Kent Syverud, who said in an email he has enjoyed wearing his Wundershirt so much that he has another shirt order headed his way.

“I like it because it is more comfortable than other shirts and because I am less tired half an hour after exercising,” said Syverud. “I don’t understand why it seems to work that way, but for me, it does.”

Published on March 1, 2016 at 10:28 pm

Contact: sekinzle@syr.edu