Global backpack brand Deuter “has completely eliminated perfluorocarbons (PFCs),” the harmful chemicals that shed from traditional water repellents, from its product line, beginning in Spring 2020. In order to ensure the water- and soil-repellent properties of its products, Deuter has replaced these PFCs with a renewably sourced, non-fluorinated DWR that is bluesign approved.
“PFCs shed into the environment from all conventional DWR treatments, and we see it as our responsibility to eliminate that from the product cycle, thereby keeping those harmful chemicals from bioaccumulating and getting into our water,” says Jonathan Degenhardt, senior marketing manager at Deuter in the USA. “Despite the rising tide of sustainability stories in the outdoor industry, the fact is that very few brands have taken steps to completely eliminate PFCs. Deuter is the first backpack brand of its size to do so.”
Although Deuter has worked with bluesign for years, this is the first time that each and every product across the collection will include bluesign approved materials. Removing PFCs in this way—not only from select products, but from the entire line—has required years of developing new materials with suppliers and is the culmination of a process that has been underway since 2014, said Dueter.
Deuter follows through this commitment to sustainability by backing its packs with a no-questions-asked lifetime repair policy, The Deuter Promise, an initiative aimed at keeping as many packs as possible out of the landfill.
In addition to removing all PFCs from its products in 2020, Deuter is also releasing a complete range of to-be-announced daypacks constructed from recycled materials.
For more information on Deuter and its approach to environmental sustainability and social responsibility, visit: https://info.deuterusa.com/responsibility#
