NEW PRODUCT Repellent adheres directly to clothing

Buzz Off remains active for up to 25 launderings.
By SAM COOK
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
DULUTH, Minn. -- In the age-old battle against bugs, one of the newest weapons is insect-repelling clothing. Shirts. Pants. Caps. Socks. Bandanas.
Several retail brands offer clothing with the repellent product called Buzz Off Insect Shield. The process bonds permethrin, a synthetic repellent, to the clothing fabric, according to Gail Howell, corporate administrative assistant at Buzz Off. The apparel is registered with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Odorless and colorless, Buzz Off remains active in clothing for up to 25 launderings, according to the EPA. The clothing should not be dry-cleaned because that would remove Buzz Off's effectiveness, manufacturers say.
Gander Mountain carries Ex Officio clothing made with Buzz Off. Men's and women's button-front shirts are $79.99. Ex Officio T-shirts with Buzz Off are $29.99, and hats run from $29.99 to $49.99.
Duluth outdoors writer and author Michael Furtman and his wife, Mary Jo, tried Buzz Off shirts and pants on three canoe trips in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness last summer.
Quotable
"We went on one trip in June when the blackflies were as bad as they can get, and we never got bitten until the last portage when it got so hot we took our shirts off," Furtman said. "[The bugs] still come around. They're still annoying. It's not an invisible shield 5 feet away. But it does keep them from biting."
Terry Schocke, director of program at the National High Adventure Base for Boy Scouts in Ely, said some campers have tried the new product.
"Some have gotten this expensive pretreated clothing," Schocke said. "It's pretty expensive. You're buying a shirt treated for $55 or $60 bucks. Those who I've seen on our list-serve [an e-mail group] say it works pretty well."
Backpacker Magazine offers a review of the product on its Web site, www.backpackgeartest.org/reviews/.
An unidentified field tester wore a pair of Ex Officio Men's Buzz Off Convertible Pants in the mountains of southwestern Colorado for 13 days in 2004.
"The Buzz Off Convertible Pant definitely keeps flies and mosquitoes from biting," the tester wrote, "When I was in woods thick with mosquitoes, I found that the insects did land on the pant [so they were not necessarily repelled], but they did not bite through like they otherwise would. They sat there for several seconds looking befuddled, then flew away. The mosquitoes were very pesky and did bite my exposed skin [head, neck and hands], and I did have to put DEET on those areas to repel mosquitoes."