Is the latest technology in trainers and sportswear truly progressive or just junk science? Sophia Wong reports.

Adidas has come up with the Climacool, a pair of trainers which it's promoting with an expensive advertising campaign featuring Anna Kournikova and David Beckham. But the marketing people at Adidas aren't solely relying on these celebrities to sell Climacool trainers - they're hoping we'll buy into the science behind them. Climacool is purported to "provide superior moisture management, enhanced evaporation and better breathability all around the foot". It's an impressive claim.

Accordingly to Adidas, Climacool trainers can keep the foot cool, reduce heat and moisture and provide 360 degree ventilation. The trainers feature Ethylene Vinyl Acetate (EVA to its friends) material to which they've added airvents. But EVA happens to be the most commonly used midsole foam in running shoes, so, in other words, Climacool trainers are made from the same material as most other trainers, but with extra holes.

Nike recently came up with Dri FIT, a fabric which they claim keeps you cool and dry. They've also launched Dri FIT UV which has a protective finish that provides SPF30+. Arsenal and Glasgow Rangers kits are now made of this Dri FIT fabric, so if it's good enough for these football teams, there must be surely be some truth to Nike's scientific claims?

CancerHelp UK (www.cancerhelp.org.uk) says that: "The amount of protection you get from your clothes varies depending on the type of material. The closer the weave of the fabric, the more likely it is to keep the sun off. Thin, loose weave fabrics such as cheesecloth give very little protection. Close weave cotton (T-shirt material), gives quite good protection."

So, unless you're wearing a string vest, your ordinary clothes will offer you protection. If this is the case, then these two products aren't so much revolutionary as fairly ordinary products with pseudo scientific marketing. Let me just say (before I get my ass sued) that I don't doubt that these products do to some extent do what they claim. But it's hardly progressive, it's junk science.

This isn't the first time that we've been sold on junk science. In 1999 Ted Baker gave us the Endurance suit range. Made of 100% wool (like most suits), the yarn has been twisted to its limits so it springs back into shape making the fabric creaseless. The claim is that "The Endurance suit is intelligent. It has a memory. This smart suit can be scrunched, rolled up and folded, but it always springs back into shape no matter what you force it to endure".

And let's not forget the 'technology' that brought us the Global Hypercolour Tee, an item of clothing, which unlike Climacool trainers, didn't stop you sweating but showed where you were sweating. Remember when you used to wear your Hypercolour T with pride and then oh how we laughed at the ridiculousness of it? And then how we choked back the laughter when McQueen made it über cool again, and Graham Norton recently boasted on telly that he has a McQueen suit which changes colour as he sweats.

We are suckers for junk science, but more than that, we are suckers for the trendy brands and trendy advertising campaigns. And don't they know it. - otherwise Adidas might have chosen le Tissier and Sue Barker to front the Climacool advertising campaign. It's perhaps worth noting that the sensible marriage between pan-maker Teflon and fabric-maker Du Pont to make grease resistant clothing didn't make big waves, when it was used in 1997 by Marks and Spencer. Using Teflon's stain protection, which has been around for over 10 years, the innovative fabric was popular with parents buying sensible schoolwear and twitchers. Cookware just isn't sexy. Are we just fashion victims? Course we are. Are we junk science junkies?

Apparently so.