Swiss textile company HeiQ and sustainable outdoor clothing brand Patagonia have teamed up to explore novel ways for a sustainable textile finishing technology to achieve breathable and durable water repellence (DWR) with best-in-class performances, said the companies. The announcement comes amidst numerous human health and environmental studies quantifying the hazardous impacts of perfluorinated chemistries (PFCs) and some brands in the outdoor industry having begun to switch to currently available first-generation non-fluorinated DWRs.
According to a survey conducted by HeiQ Textile Market Knowledge Centre with 40 outdoor, apparel and fashion brands in August 2016, 56% of the respondents expressed a need to learn more regarding the DWR performance function.
“Shattering the status quo for DWR is of paramount importance to Patagonia. However, we will not be successful unless we also achieve the quality and performance that our customers demand, a calculated partnership is a key means of doing so,” said Matt Dwyer, director of material innovation and development at Patagonia. “HeiQ is a natural partner in its ability to conduct world class research while commercializing high performing, sustainable textile finishes and we believe that together we can find a solution.”
“At HeiQ, we carefully choose our brand partners before initiating a cooperative research project to ensure that the joint effort is going to create the highest value possible for both parties, and more importantly, for consumers,” said Colin Lantz, vice president of HeiQ Brandforce. “Patagonia and HeiQ share the same vision that technology can perfect our every-day textile products. This formed the basis for this partnership.”
The HeiQ research leader for this project is Dr. Murray Height, co-founder and chief technology officer of the HeiQ Group. “At HeiQ we are constantly researching new ways to achieve water repellency on textiles and have worked towards non-PFC DWR technology for over five years. This project aims to realize an improved non-pfc DWR technology and achieve a new level of performance in this field,” said Dr. Height.
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