Cool suits can help us adapt to a warming planet: British startup Techniche UK is designing construction dubbed uniforms StayQool, which can cool skin temperature by as much as 8 °C for up to seven hours, Bloomberg reports. The suits have an outer layer of specially designed mesh and a waterproof layer below to absorb and remove heat through evaporation, and the startup also sells vests, hats, neck bands, and other garments with built-in cooling technology to companies and individual customers in nearly 30 countries.

More in the pipeline: The company is working on a cooling vest equipped with “smart sensors that can monitor workers’ biometrics and predict when they might be at risk of heat stress,” and gear that can absorb heat using phase-change materials, Bloomberg writes. In Techniche’s London office, professor of University of California at San Diego Renkun Chen is designing clothes that come with air-conditioning. Chen has crafted palm-sized thermoelectric devices — powered by rechargeable lithium-ion batteries — that react to a preferred temperature set by the user. The device can cool the skin temperature by up to 10 °C.

Our region can use the help: Construction companies in Qatar have already bought Techniche’s construction suits for their workers, according to Bloomberg. Morocco and Egypt are among the worst regionally for children’s exposure to climate and environmental shocks. Gulf countries are poised to see up to 250 “dangerous heat” days a year by 2050.

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