After hearing and reading multiple reports of high tick activity this year, I prepared for my overnight hike in central FL this past weekend by treating my pants, shirt, socks, and backpack with permethrine.
Once we got to camp, and were sitting against a tree cooking diner, my hiking partner (who did not treat his clothes) found 6 ticks crawling on him, and one was already dining on him. After the first one was found, I tucked my pants into my socks and tucked my shirt into my pants.
When he found the second tick crawling on him, he got an idea: Let me put this tick on your pants and see if it dies. My initial response was a rated R version of "no", but I decided on "why not? "
It crawled around for a while, looking completely healthy. It got to my sock and had some trouble navigating the fibers, but eventually made its way back up to my pants again.
Here it is on my sock.
After 5 minutes, back on my pants... it was moving a lot slower now, not looking very healthy.
It was done "crawling around" after the 5 minute point, and at about the 15 minute point, it flipped over onto its back and stayed that way, legs writhing slowly.
So yes, treating your clothing with permethrine does work. The slight chemical smell that remains is better than Lyme disease... or even the itching that follows an un-diseased tick bite.
photos taken with Droid Moto Z