The coolest gear in town is coming from Japan

A small Japanese company has joined the fight against global warming by selling what it calls self-cooling apparel, a cheap if odd-looking alternative to fluorocarbon-spewing air-conditioners.

Tokyo-based Kuchoufuku, meaning "air-conditioned clothes", developed its first product by stitching small, battery-powered fans into the back of polyester work jackets.

The company, which claims to have sold 20,000 jackets a year since 2004, says that sweltering factories can save massively on electricity after an initial investment of 11,000 yen (€71) per worker.

Until now, air-conditioning implied cooling the entire room. "Now, we can cool just the body," Hiroshi Ichigaya, the firm's chief executive, said.

Described as a "specialised maker of work clothing designed for optimal air flows", the company recently hired a fashion designer to expand the product line-up beyond factories with dress shirts and blouses, but with limited success.

"We should be selling a lot more but many people are not ready yet to think this far ahead," says marketing manager Satoshi Imagawa.

"I don't know why because it is getting so hot."

He suggests other uses for the clothes, including dog-walking, gardening, housework and even golfing, dismissing concerns that the whirring of tiny fans might put serious golfers off their shot.

"The fans are quiet," he insists.

Temperatures around Japan topped 40 degrees this month, breaking records and sending millions in search of cool comfort.

Imagawa admits that the chunky look of the air-cooled clothes, which come with rechargeable battery packs, cables and control boxes, deter some customers.

"We still haven't managed to sell many to young women," he laments.

A company brochure explains that the three-speed fans, which use the equivalent of just 20 yen (13 cent) in electricity per month, pump cool air around the upper body and "prevent sweat odour and hot rash".

"But the gush of cool air also inflates the clothes like life-jackets, making the wearer look bloated or pregnant."

"I'd rather sweat," said student Emi Kumamoto (22), when shown pictures of the company's new blouse.

Kuchoufuku also sells an air-conditioned mattress installed with fans that circulate 370 litres of air per minute around the sleeping user.

The firm expects the 29,000 yen (€187) mat to be a hit with customers who hate using air-conditioning on Japan's humid nights, and with invalid older people suffering from bed sores.

Its latest product line-up also includes a cushion that jets a steady stream of air around the nether regions - ideal, says the company, for office workers, taxi drivers and the haemorrhoid-afflicted.

"I use it all the time," says Imagawa. "It feels great."