Here’s one good reason to wear a suit when you leave the house. Japanese company Haruyama Trading claims they’ve managed to produce a men’s business suit with integrated protection against the H1N1 virus, killing the organisms upon contact.
How does it keep the disease at bay? According to Haruyama, their anti-swine flu suits are coated with chemical titanium dioxide, which reacts with light to help break down and eliminate the H1N1 strain. That means you can stroll down a heavily-populated area, where the potential for infection is high, and feel perfectly safe (unless someone directly coughs in your face, at which point, you’re screwed).
No different than regular off-the-shelf office outfits, the protective suits are virtually indistinguishable from what Japan’s legion of white collar workers typically wear. Available in medium grey, charcoal, navy and grey pinstripe designs, they’ll help keep your professional ass safe, all while managing to let you dress up for your next big meeting.
The suits reportedly took a full year to develop and are able to retain their disease-proofing properties even after repeated washing (no word on how many times it can be cleaned, though). Call me skeptical, but if there’s an outbreak, I’m rocking a face mask, not a dapper, formal outfit.
Japan’s apparently high on the swine flu paranoia right now (with 18 fatalities and thousands of suspected cases) and Haruyama’s going to take full advantage of it by rolling out 50,000 of their anti-H1N1 suits beginning today. The suits are retailing for the equivalent of $580 a pop.
[via Telegraph ]