In the news this week, an American company announced their release of the self-cleaning shirt. Here, we take a look at this groundbreaking invention, as well as our other favourite self-cleaning products. Because let’s face it, anything that stops us having to wash it ourselves is a godsend.

 The Self-Cleaning Shirt

The Telegraph recently reported on the American company Wool&Prince, and their new self-cleaning shirt. The wool fabric used to make the shirts is naturally resistant to odours. Even better, the material never needs to be ironed. Wool&Prince claim that even if you screwed up the shirt and shoved it into a bag, it comes out as if freshly pressed. The shirts were tried out by 15 testers who put the garment through its paces (disco dancing, mountaineering, etc.). Of course, you should probably wash the shirt every now and again, although Wool&Prince have been quoted saying, “If you want to go for the 100 Day Challenge, we aren’t going to stop you.”

 The Self-Cleaning Oven

Ask anyone with a kitchen what their least-favourite chores is, and most say cleaning the oven. There’s something particularly demeaning about having to get on your knees, stick your head right in, and scrub away for hours. Thank goodness then for the self-cleaning oven. How does this work? Some self-cleaning ovens use extremely high temperatures to reduce any leftover food to ash. Others are coated with special catalytic agents, which burn away mess at normal cooking temperatures. Do you ever have to clean a self-cleaning oven? Yes. But no way near as often as a normal one.

 The Self-Cleaning Window

Tired of having the window cleaner leering into your bedroom? Get some self-cleaning glass fitted. The clever thing about this invention is that it makes excellent use of Mother Nature. The special windows are coated with a layer of titanium dioxide. When heated by sunlight, this begins to break down any dirt that’s accrued on the window. Then it’s time to wait for the rain (in this country that shouldn’t take long). The rain washes off the dirt and in theory, leaves your windows sparkling.