Smellwell

SmellWell

SmellWell is a Swedish company that develops and sells products that absorb moisture and remove bad odors for people in motion. The development of SmellWell started with a pair of smelly football shoes. After testing all possible products without finding anything that really worked, we decided to come up with our own solution. Together with chemists from Chalmers in Gothenburg, we started doing research on what creates the odor in shoes that many have experienced. Moisture proved to be a contributing factor and the focus was therefore on developing a product that absorbs moisture. A combination of moisture-absorbing substances with materials that effectively remove bad odors laid the groundwork for the first prototype. One of the main components of SmellWell is activated carbon, which has been used for hundreds of years as a natural way to purify both water and air. We use activated carbon made from bamboo, which has a very large surface area that makes it efficiently absorb and neutralize bad odor, but also absorbs moisture. Bamboo is also good from a sustainability perspective because it is very fast growing which means that harvesting does not affect the regrowth. The remaining materials in SmellWell are salts and minerals with hygroscopic properties which allows them to absorb moisture from the air, in the form of sweat. The material is enclosed in an inner bag made of non-woven. This acts as a diaphragm, by holding all the components but allowing moisture to be transported from the shoe or exercise equipment into the bag. The design of SmellWell makes it work for more than just shoes. The moldability means that it can be used for virtually anything that is difficult to wash in a washing machine and which has a tendency to start to smell after a while. The most common areas of use are shoes, bags and gloves, but work just as well for the wardrobe that has begun to smell trapped.