Wilmington, DE December 17, 2008 When Optimer's director of marketing, Karen Deniz, needed a spokesperson to help sell the virtues of its drirelease moisture management technology in ads, she turned to the product's logo for 'comic relief'. Drifus, a cartoon man with a drirelease 'shield' for a head and amphibious green body, has become a fixture in dozens of drirelease cartoon ads for the past two years that dish out puns and show him 'recreating' yet feeling dry and fresh in customer's products.

Now Drifus has been spotted making solo appearances beyond the printed page. Optimer has supplied a clear tabletop plaque on which his cartoon bubble says "drirelease Spoken Here" that customers' have been using in their booths at trade shows. And in Japan, a country in love with cartoons, a customer has asked to develop their own point-of-purchase materials for use at retail as well.

In the latest development, a drirelease customer in the UK, Cotton Legends, has asked and received permission to create socks for men and women with Drifus knit into the sock. "We were just looking for a bit of levity as a counterpoint to the technical performance nature of Drirelease," says Deniz, "now, it seems, Drifus is building his own fan base!" Deniz says the icon will soon be appearing in his second comic book compiled of his '08 ad appearances. (Autographs available upon request)

Optimer Performance Fibers, a division of Optimer, Inc., a Sterling Capital Partners company, is based in Wilmington, DE. Founded in 2001, OPF 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 Performance Fibers. 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 Performance Fibers. It is an odor neutralizer embedded in all drirelease fabrics. It eliminates odors in garments by blocking odor-causing 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.