Wear your medicine

Jordan Schindler had a problem. After a dermatologist told him that pillowcases were a leading cause of his acne, he was given a topical medication and told to wash his pillowcase multiple times a week. Instead, Schindler came up with a radical solution—embed active ingredients and medications into fabrics. That idea led to his founding of Nufabrx in 2011, and its first product, the Nufabrx Pillowcase. It is a bamboo pillowcase embedded with tea tree oil and lavender that is released during sleep. 

Now the Conover, N.C.-based company has developed a line of compression sleeves for wrists, elbows, knees and feet that provide a therapeutic amount of medication even after repeated use.

The medicine infused into each sleeve lasts for about 15 washes, and after the medicinal ingredients are no longer active, the sleeve can still be worn for compressive support.

Like a Transdermal Patch, Nufabrx products deliver medication directly to the body upon contact with the skin. The active ingredients are absorbed into the body safely, effectively and consistently.

Schindler believes Nufabrx will change the way people shop for clothes as they learn they can get a shirt or pants embedded with whatever medicine they need, such as a pain reliever, an anti-fungal, or even a hat that delivers medicine to an Alzheimer’s patient who otherwise wouldn’t remember to take his or her meds.

“There are so many different application areas that can be effectively treated through clothing instead of having to rub a cream on your body or take a pill—just get dressed,” Schindler says.