Carbon clothing was a hot topic around the begining of this past deer season. scentlok lost thier patent and alot of the big proponets of the activated carbon clothing started to rethink their stance.
According to the research i've read on it, activated carbon can only work so long, before it has to be reactivated, and to reactivate it you would have to heat it to a temp so high that your clothes will combust(somewhere in the neighborhood of 1400 degrees F).
So, to answer your question directly. Yes carbon clothing does have a shelf life.
I have some scentlok items and I still wear them, Simply because they were expensive and I'm going to wear them until I have cause to buy new camo. I've even removed the scentlok liner from a pair of the pants, because the liner doesn't breathe well and it make me very hot. But the pants were some of the best made and most comfortable hunting pants I own.
Here are a couple of links with info about carbon clothing research.
http://www.fastestbows.com/articles/corrigan/scent_suits.htm
http://www.outdoorscentral.com/artman/publish/article_169.shtml
does carbon clothing have a shelf life?
