Toray, Goldwin eye astro-wear

Toray Industries Inc. and Goldwin Inc. are looking to make sportswear that is out of this world.

Together with a professor from Japan Women's University, they are setting up a research institute in Tokyo to bring technology used in clothing worn aboard the space shuttle to their sportswear and outdoor clothing products.

Toray, Goldwin and professor Yoshiko Taya jointly developed shorts, T-shirts and other clothing worn by astronaut Takao Doi during a 16-day space shuttle mission last March to the International Space Station.

They gave Doi's clothing antibacterial properties to help eliminate odor because washing clothes in space is difficult.

The J-Space research institute will be set up in April at the campus in Tokyo's Mejirodai district with the goal of getting clothes with an ultra-thin layer of nano-level chemicals on the market within a year.