Dirt Nap City - History's Most Interesting Dead People
Dirt Nap City is the podcast about history's most interesting dead people. In each episode, Alex and Kelly dive into the life of a famous person that you have heard of, but probably don't know much about. Our stories are about actors, entrepreneurs, politicians, musicians, inventors, explorers and more! We also cover things that used to be popular but have fallen out of favor. Things like pet rocks, drive in theaters, Jolt Cola, and many other trends of yesterday make up our "dead ends". But whether we are talking about interesting historical figures or past trends, the show is funny, light-hearted, entertaining, informative and educational. You will definitely learn something new and probably have some laughs along the way. Everyone will eventually move to Dirt Nap City, so why not go ahead and meet the neighbors?
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Dirt Nap City - History's Most Interesting Dead People
High Heat & Pink Pits - The Sweaty Rise and Rapid Fall of Hypercolor Shirts
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In 1991, the hallways of American high schools weren't just places for lockers and lunch—they were interactive science labs. For a brief, neon-soaked window, Generra Hypercolor was the ultimate status symbol, turning every teenager into a walking mood ring. In this episode, we dive into the short-lived phenomenon of the heat-sensitive T-shirt that defined an era and then vanished almost overnight.
We explore how Generra Sportswear Co. turned Japanese thermochromic technology into a $50 million-a-month empire. The "magic" relied on a dual-dye process: a permanent base coat topped with a leuco dye that became transparent when heated, revealing a new color underneath. It was futuristic, tactile, and—as many soon discovered—deeply unforgiving.
The episode unpacks the "Hypercolor Panic" that eventually cooled the craze. While a handprint on the back was cool, glowing neon armpits were a social death sentence. We also discuss the notorious fragility of the garments; one accidental trip through a hot dryer or a wash with bleach would "kill" the dye, leaving owners with a muddy, non-shifting mess.
From the explosive sales of 1991 to the company's bankruptcy filing in 1992, we trace the arc of a trend that burned too bright to last. Join us as we look back at the shirts that promised the future but couldn't survive the laundry, and ask: why hasn't this tech made a real comeback? It’s a story of mismanagement, overproduction, and the high price of being "hot".
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Dirt Nap City is the podcast about the most interesting dead people in history.
Subscribe and listen to learn about people you've heard of, but don't know much about.
Someday we'll all live in Dirt Nap City, so you should probably go ahead and meet the neighbors!
Hey Alex, we both live in Texas, right? We do. What what's Texas known for? Steers? In another word we won't say. Uh no, I was thinking more.
SPEAKER_03Oh, lots of things. Texas is known for uh an a particular attitude.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I was thinking more uh uh you know you know how I like to start every episode by talking about the weather? Sure. Texas is known for hot weather. Hot weather, yeah. Heat. Heat changes everything, doesn't it? In a good way, bad way? I don't know. That's that's really up to you. What do you think? Does does it change does heat change in a good way or a bad way?
SPEAKER_03Don't live here. You all you want is to be in warm weather. During the winter. Yeah, all you do is complain here about the weather. Like it's it's brutal in the summertime. But you know what we do good in Texas? Air condition things. We do. We're very good at that. I mean, you need to bring if you if you're not from Texas, let me just paint you a picture of what the summer is. You need to bring a jacket wherever you go, because anytime you're going indoors, it's gonna be 67, 66 degrees. Yeah. Restaurants. And then you'll sweat on the way to the car, you'll have to take a shower, particularly in Houston where it's super humid.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um not so much in like Lubbock, where it's just gonna be 105, but not humid. Um, but yeah, I mean, the summertime you just but you know what? We just don't go outside much in the summer. Just like in the north, you just don't go outside in the winter. It's just kind of flips.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, or you gotta bundle up. Um, well, you've kind of teed up my my dead end really well for me. Um, I I I was hoping to go somewhere in that direction, and you took it, man. Um, I want to talk about the year we graduated from college or right up thereabouts, like the early 90s.
SPEAKER_0391. 91, and I graduated in 92.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. This was um this was a time in Texas when things were things were hot, and like you said, you might need a jacket, but you might also want to go to the club. Remember going to the club in college, you know, we'd go down to the club. Which club which club were we talking about here? You know, the music club, the dancing club, the party club, all those places.
SPEAKER_03I think Liberty Lunch is the only place that you used to go.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that was that was kind of a music club. And and you know, if you weren't wearing your black flag t-shirt or your or your hooskerdo t-shirt, you might be wearing something that that was more fashionable back then. Did you say a members only jacket? You might be wearing a members only jacket. You mentioned jackets, but I wouldn't wear that to Liberty Lunch. Under the members only jacket, you had a t-shirt, and it was a special kind of t-shirt because when people start slam dancing and bouncing around in Liberty Lunch, it would get hot. And this shirt did something amazing. Do you remember these shirts? When you would get hot, they would change colors. I don't even know what you're talking about. Hyper color clothing. I've never heard you're making this up. No, Alex, it was an early 90s thing. There was a Seattle-based company called Genera Sportswear, and they used thermochromic pigments, and it would change your color of your shirt from blue to pink or purple.
SPEAKER_03I know this was massive. I know the spoon change color, like at a yogurt place. Same same same thing, but changes colors when your beer is cold.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Well, we weren't 21 back then, so we wouldn't know about that. But what I'm talking about is hypercolor clothing. So it was a staple of 1990s fall mall fashion, not fall. Well, fall fashion too, because you know it was cold outside. And so but what we have good enough, I guess. Did any of our friends have these? Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah, these were these were very punk rock and very uh very theater and very banned. I I actually I don't know. But let me just prove one? Just to prove to you that this was a real thing, I'm gonna play you a commercial from Jenera.
SPEAKER_03Okay, we're gonna say I'm wearing one right now, watching.
SPEAKER_02And I'm starting to sweat. No, let me let me play this chameleons. Let me play this commercial for you. All right.
SPEAKER_03No, what heat makes it happen. Hypercolor clothing changes color with heat. Definitely in the 90s. Like this.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so hypercolor, they use these thermo um chromatic or chromic pigments that would change color. It was it was um put into the fabric itself. The the thing was that while the commercials made it look really cool, so some things they would do in the commercials, they would take a hairdryer and draw a smiley face in the shirt and it would change color into a look, you know, with the heat of a hairdryer, and then they would put it on. Or someone would take their hand and put it on the shirt and it would make a handprint. Or or they, you know, they would do these things to make it hot. But you know what really happened when people wore these things? The under the underarms changed colors. Oh, because of sweat. That was it. Yeah, yeah. Wherever you were sweating, you just basically saw it had these color sweat lines that would go across. That's terrible, especially at a club. Yeah, yeah. And and and it's weird because in this, if you if you search for hypercolor shirts commercial, you'll see it. These people are all dancing, but that's not happening in the commercial. But in real life, this was a big drawback.
SPEAKER_03Were they breathable? Like were they nice material, like moisture-wicking material, or were they like polyester where they make you sweat?
SPEAKER_02I think they were more of a polyester thing. And so they were um they were made by a Japanese chemical company, and they really would only change to two colors, right? So if they were pink, they would change blue, if they were blue, they would change purple. It was kind of a purple-pink. I think that's how those spoons are too. Yeah, yeah. I think that was the only color that really worked with this. But the problem, the other problem with them was they were very fragile. So if you put them in the dryer, uh, if you if you laund laundered them too many times, they would uh start to not work anymore, start to fail. I do think they were hot. I don't think they were very breathable. Um, but it was, yeah, it was it was kind of this little flash in the pan. And if you heard that music in that commercial, what did it sounded like? That sounded like uh C and C Music Factory. Yeah, exactly. It was it was really a snapshot of 1991, 1992. And and now these days, people are selling these things on eBay for uh quite a bit of money, especially if they still work. So if you go into eBay, you'll see these pictures of them with handprints and stuff in them. And it was it was uh something that only lasted a little while, and people tried to bring it back. Um, as a matter of fact, a Texas company called Farah Manufacturing and tried to bring it back in the early 2000s, but that didn't work out very well.
SPEAKER_03Ironically, CNC Music Factory had a song called Gonna Make You Sweat. Should have they should have like tried to rip that song.
SPEAKER_02That's right, that's right. Now, now I want to talk a little bit about these thermo thermochromes. They were the same thing that were used in mood rings. They were um and we've done an episode about mood rings, so if you're interested in that, I like things that change color, I guess. Sure, check that out. They would um temperature would cause them to change color. And the trick was to get it to go into the fabric. Um, and they used actually another episode we're gonna talk about scratch and sniff. They used microcapsules that were just tiny micrometers, and that was what they used to bind with the fabric. Just like the microcapsules that would bind with the paper and scratch and sniff, similar thing, but instead of giving off a smell, it would change colors, or at least I don't think it gave off a smell.
SPEAKER_03You know, for the last 10 years I've been hearing about nanotechnology, um, and that the next thing that we should expect maybe in the 2030s, is a lot of things where we could paint with nanotechnology, for example. So we would be able to change the color of our room with paint that have nanotechnology. Would we be able to change the color of our room just an app on your phone that would just be then oh, I don't want white walls anywhere, let's blue walls, or at least maybe for this party, let me have red walls or whatever. Wow. Or even car paint. They could say you would buy like a neutral uh every color would every car would have the same neutral paint, and then you decide what color you want it to be when you get home, and you just change it with an app. And you could change it every day, change it every day. Um be hard for the cops to find you, I think.
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_02Anybody spot a red Chevy Camaro? Oh, well, this this is a blue Chevy Camaro, sorry.
SPEAKER_03But it seems like that the fact that they've been working that on that a long time, I think that's something that people do like the idea of is being chameleons. Um would you would you buy a car that you could change? Would you pay extra for a car that you could change the color of?
SPEAKER_02Um, I mean, first of all, it depends on how much extra. And number one, and number two, it would depend on if this was a um, you know, midlife crisis car. Absolutely. If I haven't had one of those yet. Have you bought a midlife crisis car?
SPEAKER_03No, but it I I think about, you know, I think I've heard some of is it true that or is I don't know if this is true. If you're an insurance person, let us know. But I've heard that like red cars uh have higher rates, have higher insurance rates. I know they get more tickets, but I don't know if they have higher rates. That might just be a urban legend. Um but it would be interesting that like would you make your car or how about a car that gets that changes color as it gets faster? It gets it gets more red.
SPEAKER_02And and these little uh flames come on the side, like little uh color painted flames. You know, you know, here is here is a practical solution for this. Um, not only for cars, but maybe for clothes as well. White and lighter colors reflect more heat, and then darker colors absorb more heat. Right. So outside in black in Texas. Yeah, but in in uh in the winter or in the summer, you change your car white, you reflect heat, and then the winter, when it's really cold, you change it black and it absorbs more heat. Or just instead of washing it, you just change colors of the car. Brown, color, color of mud or dirt. Um yeah, did you wash your car? It looks great. No, I just no.
SPEAKER_03What about paint, like house paint? Would you would you pay a premium for that?
SPEAKER_02So so as you know, uh, I do video production for a for a living. It would be cool to have a uh setup where you could have a different background color, right, for your videos. So one day, you know, the color is light blue for this client, but but we already sort of have that with LED lights, right? So you can shine LED lights on a gray or a white wall, and they'll it'll take that color. So, but you have to have the lights there. That's the trick. Um, do you remember it's been a long time, but I know this never really took off. It's that glass that that has some sort of particles and charge in it, and there's a button you push and it uh electrifies it, and then it becomes opaque, or you can make it clear.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, a lot of windows have those, like in uh nice, nice uh apartments, hospitals or or um or yeah, or offices have them.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's cool. Well, I I I mean I'm all for the nanotechnology and changing colors, but the the the thing was maybe this was something, an idea that was ahead of its time. I think it was. And and and the concept was solid, but the execution wasn't there. The technology wasn't there to make it more durable, to give you more color options, and also to know the difference between you know a cool handprint on your shirt and pit stains that are well it kind of reminds me of the um a lot of times when we talk about technology and inventions, I always think of the phrase it's a solution looking for a problem.
SPEAKER_03Right, right. What problem were they trying to solve? What is is the ideal world that I would have one shirt?
SPEAKER_02Well, it was it was marketed to teenagers, right? And it was it was supposed to be fun, it was interactivity, right? And and uh you could you could create little patterns on other people. Um and it was just it was sort of a it was like pet rocks, it was kind of just a little flash in the pan obsession that people had for a while. So I never into this.
SPEAKER_03You're making it sound like it was the rave, the rave uh rave crowd that was into this, but not like junior high school. This was Katrina Roadie.
SPEAKER_02Katrina Roadie had these shirts. Shout out to Katrina Roadie.
SPEAKER_03Uh you know, but but um it wasn't maybe you marketed this to like elementary school kids who don't have as many pitch stains.
SPEAKER_02I don't think uh I'm gonna tell you why I don't think it was uh marketed to elementary school kids. So I'm gonna play another I'm saying it should have been. Well, let me play this other commercial for you. Um, and this commercial, you can't see the visuals, but you're gonna hear the audio and and uh you can just imagine what's going on, and then I'll tell you what was actually going on when you hear it. So this was the Australian version of Hypercolour. The breathing at the beginning, um, while it sounds quite um I don't know, titillating in in in in the sound of it, it's somebody breathing on one of these shirts and making it change color. And and then the little the little gunshot sound, that's somebody with a hairdryer, they were they were drawing faces on the shirt, and then they aim it at the um aim it at the uh camera, and then and then I I don't know, it's just it's a crazy commercial.
SPEAKER_03Like I think kids would be into that. I think kids would be into like arty shirts like that. It's like the tennis shoes that have the lights in them, right?
SPEAKER_02The heels, the heels that light up.
SPEAKER_03I think they'd market it to the wrong crowd.
SPEAKER_02Well, I guess part of the part of the thing is kids don't sweat as much, maybe as adults do. Kids might also not care about um ironing the shirt, and so they might be a little more okay with wrinkles, and so they're shiny? Was it sh a shiny shirt? No, it was kind of muted. It was muted. It was it was almost like a tie-dye. It looked almost like a tie-dye shirt because when it changed colors, you had different colors, but they weren't there weren't sharp lines. I think the reason the commercial shows people using a hairdryer to draw is because that made sharp lines. You could draw a face in it or something. Otherwise, if you're just wearing it, it just kind of was like one color on your belly, one color on your back, one color on your arm, you know, kind of.
SPEAKER_03Maybe I'm thinking too practically, like a shirt that could change color. Like if you had a white dress shirt that you could make blue, that seems like there's a market for that. But you're you're talking about this shirt as like a like a fun, interactive novelty, kind of like a like a tie-dye. I'm I'm kind of thinking it more practically.
SPEAKER_02Well, it it wasn't practical at all. It it was uh Genera Sports, where you know they they had this massive hit on their hands in 1991, but they couldn't really keep up with the demand at that year, so they tried to build more uh inventory, build more capacity to make these things, you know, more chemical plants, more uh mills, more whatever it takes. Um what do they call places where you make shirts? Uh textile mills or textile, yeah, yeah. And and and then when they finally got all their infrastructure together, they the the the trend was over. And then they weren't able to so they had to file for Jennera filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1992, um July of ninety two, like just two years after this thing had really the shortest dead end we ever had. Yeah, yeah, it really was. Um, so Jennera still has um a brand, like that brand was bought by several other companies, and there's a contemporary women's brand called Jennera, but the hypercolor shirts really aren't seen anymore. Where they use them is like you said, spoons, coffee mugs, and mood rings. That's that's where that technology has ended up. But I do hope it ends up on the outside of a car. I would, yeah, in answer to your question, I've thought about it. I would buy a car like that.
SPEAKER_03Different technology, not the same.
SPEAKER_02Better, better, right? But you know, who says that technology is better? Because we were talking about this the other day. Have you seen those two pictures of uh the moon that were taken in like 1972 and then one was just taken by Artemis?
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02The one from 72 looked better, right? That's because it was a the Earth rise and the other one was an Earth set. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. But still, I'm just saying technology doesn't always get better. Yeah, that's that's the takeaway from all that. That's an old man talking. If you if you ever owned a hyper color shirt, especially a genera sportswear one, let us know. Send us a picture of yourself. And if you here's bonus.
SPEAKER_03I'd be surprised if we got any of this.
SPEAKER_02If you if you had a hyper color shirt and you did um a glamour shot in it, bonus players. Send us those.
SPEAKER_03Send us those. I think the only other time we had a dead end that one person had never heard of was the X-ray shoe fitter. Oh, now we both have one.
SPEAKER_02Nice. I well, that was a lot more niche and before my time. I'm really surprised you hadn't heard of hypercolor. Because I you had parachute pants, right? Um I think I had come on.
SPEAKER_03You said you've told me before you had some. I think I had parachute adjacent pants. I think at the time, if if I said, look at my parachute pants, a real one would say, Those aren't parachute pants, dude. Those are ripoffs. Those are hypercolors. Yeah, they were like parachute cargo mashup. Why are the pants blue and your crotches pink? Zipper spray. Yeah, what a terrible invention. Really.
SPEAKER_02I've never heard the phrase parachute adjacent, by the way. That that's you know, if you're jumping out of a plane, you don't want parachute adjacent. You want parachute. They weren't pant adjacent, they were parachute adjacent. Yeah, I'm saying if you're jumping out of a plane, you want the real thing. All right, well, that's hypercolor clothing. Um, you can still find them on eBay. There's a lot of people who uh will even make videos demonstrating them. Um, and uh if you are into it, send us a note. Not at dirtnapcity.com. We'll be back next week with another uh interesting dead person. And uh Alex, always good to see you. See you next Thursday.
SPEAKER_03Bye.
