Wilmington, DE April 7, 2009 Sensitive to growing public debate about humane practices in raising sheep and in keeping with its corporate responsibility initiatives, Optimer Brands has now completed testing and certification of non-museled wool sources for use in its popular drirelease wool yarns.

Though practiced to prevent painful insect infestations, museling, itself, is a painful and invasive procedure performed on merino sheep in many parts of Australia. It has stirred protests and caused boycotts of museled wool products.

"A lot of wool is purchased through co-ops or comes from various origins that cannot be certified," explains Karen Deniz, drirelease director of marketing. “Though limited so far, we have been able to identify the chain of sourcing through our spinners in order to offer the alternative of non-museled wool."

Now found in dozens of apparel to accessory products, drirelease wool combines the patented moisture management and odor elimination technology of drirelease with FreshGuard with the warmth of wool and has been found to be 29% warmer than merino wool tested in the same weight. Like all other drirelease with FreshGuard products, the performance of drirelease wool is permanent and won’t wash out, setting it apart from all other moisture management technologies. For more information, contact Karen Deniz at (908) 771-0769, kdeniz@optimer.com or Ashwin Jaju at (302) 442-6009, ajaju@optimer.com.

Optimer Brands, formerly known as Optimer Performance Fibers, a Sterling Capital Partners company, is based in Wilmington,DE. Founded in 2001, Optimer Brands conducts textile research, development and marketing and has a scientific staff credited with over 100 patents and developments.

drirelease is a registered trademark of Optimer Brands. It is a patented, intimate blend of synthetic (hydrophobic) and natural (hydrophilic) fibers that accelerates the water release rate of wet fabric. Rather than spreading the moisture across the surface of the fabric, drirelease actually pushes it to the outside of a garment, releasing water and perspiration faster than any other performance fabric on the market. drirelease includes the added benefit of FreshGuard, an odor neutralizer embedded in all drirelease fabrics, that virtually eliminates odor without using harmful chemicals and won’t wash out.

FreshGuard is a registered trademark of Optimer Brands It is an odor neutralizer embedded in all drirelease fabrics. It eliminates odors in garments by blocking odorcausing sebaceous body oils from attaching to the fabric – also stopping the attraction of odor-causing bacteria. Not an anti-microbial or anti-bacterial, which attack bacteria that possess positive functions, FreshGuard is friendly to the environment.