Scottish company Mackenzie Fly Fishing has launched a graphene-infused clothing range that it claims repels ticks without chemical treatment, following what the company describes as an accidental discovery during outdoor testing.
The Inverness-based firm, founded around two decades ago by five-time World Casting Champion Scott Mackenzie and businessman Angus Morrison, is already known internationally for its fishing rods, lines and equipment. About ten years ago it started working with Professor Gary Savage - a composites specialist with a background in Formula 1, aerospace and military engineering - to develop what it describes as the world's first graphene high-performance fly-fishing rod. The company subsequently applied the material to textiles, working with fabric developers on construction techniques combining graphene with other advanced materials. According to Mackenzie, the difficulty was never simply adding graphene to a product - it has to work alongside the right materials and be incorporated through specialist construction techniques.
Mackenzie says the company anticipated some insect-repellent effect from the fabric's built-in anti-microbial properties, which had proven useful for fishing in warm climates where mosquitoes are a problem. The extent of the effect against ticks, however, came as a surprise.
"I was out stalking with a friend, Ryan, who came back covered in ticks, while I was wearing our graphene-infused Mackenzie clothing and had absolutely none on me," said Scott Mackenzie.
Ryan Rutherford, who has contracted Lyme disease twice, described the difference between the two as shocking and said it prompted a testing process. The company states that it has since established the fabric's anti-tick properties, achieved without any chemical spray treatment. Mackenzie and Rutherford both characterize graphene as a "wonder material", noting the shift from aerospace, advanced engineering and semiconductor applications to outdoor clothing.
The company has not yet published details of its testing methodology or results, and the anti-tick claims currently rest on Mackenzie Fly Fishing's own assessment.
The Mackenzie FX1 range comprises base layers, mid layers and outerwear built from graphene-infused fabric. Beyond the tick claims, the company says the material helps regulate temperature, wicks perspiration away from the body and improves durability. The outer jacket uses a graphene membrane combined with recycled ocean plastics, which the firm says makes it highly waterproof and breathable.
The clothing was designed with input from Mackenzie guides worldwide by Atacama Design, whose previous work includes performance wear for the Maclean Brothers' record-setting Pacific row. Mackenzie Fly Fishing says it is now extending the range into other sports and into personal protective equipment (PPE).
