The majority of water-repellent functional textiles produced today contain harmful chemicals, such as fluorocarbons. One such example is PFOA, a chemical that disrupts hormones and that is essentially non-biodegradable. As an alternative, the cleantech company OrganoClick and the textile manufacturer Chang-Ho Fibre have entered a collaboration to provide fluorocarbon-free water-repellent functional fabrics on the Asian textile market for global clothing brands.
Stockholm – 27 January 2014 – OrganoClick, the Swedish cleantech company that develops and produces performance materials using environmentally friendly chemistry, today announced that the company has entered into collaboration with the Taiwanese textile manufacturer Chang-Ho Fibre. This collaboration accords OrganoClick a unique position in the World-leading Asiatic textile market as a supplier of a water-repellent fabric treatment that is readily biodegradable and is entirely fluorocarbon-free.
“In principle all textile production takes place in Asia, so it has been extremely important for us to find the right collaborative partner there. Chang-Ho Fibre is the perfect launch partner for the OrganoTex®-treatment, as the company’s innovative position and drive to constantly develop new fabrics and more environmentally friendly processes dovetails perfectly with our vision,” says Robin Grankvist, business area manager at OrganoClick AB.
OrganoClick’s innovation OrganoTex® is a water-repellent fabric treatment that utilises only biodegradable components and contains no fluorocarbons. All OrganoTex®-treated fabrics undergo analysis for fluorocarbons to identify any impurities originating from other processes, so that these can be minimised. The knowledge that the fabric is free from fluorocarbons can therefore be confidently communicated to the consumer. Since the beginning of the year the treatment has been used in production by the Taiwanese textile manufacturer Chang-Ho Fibre to produce more than a dozen water-repellent fabrics.
The first OrganoTex®-treated fabric to be launched by Chang-Ho Fibre is a 100% recycled polyester fabric. The fabric has been manufactured from one and the same fibre fraction – green PET bottles collected by volunteers at one of Asia’s largest charity organisations. The fabric retains the green colour from the bottles and therefore does not need to be re-dyed, which saves enormous amounts of water and energy, one of the most important factors in textile production today. The recycled polyester fabric has been selected as one of the most exciting textile breakthroughs at the World’s largest sports trade fair, the ISPO 2014 in Munich.
“Selecting OrganoTex® as a fluorocarbon-free water-repellent textile treatment was an obvious choice for us, as this technology is biodegradable and is not harmful, in accordance with the European REACH regulations. These reasons, together with the unique recycling process, mean that the recycled polyester fabric is perhaps the World’s greenest functional fabric – literally,” says Mark Chen, business manager at Chang-Ho Fibre, referring to the fact that the fabric is the same colour as the PET bottles from which it is made.
OrganoClick has a booth at the ISPO trade fair, 26 – 29 January 2014 in hall A6, booth number 223. The recycled polyester fabric and a number of other fabrics that have been treated with OrganoTex® by Chang-Ho Fibre will be on display there. During the coming year Chang-Ho Fibre will increase their collection of OrganoTex®-treated fabrics to also include waterproof fabrics for jackets, shoes and bags. The fabrics will be marketed by OrganoClick and Chang-Ho Fibre jointly for the consumer-focused clothing and footwear markets in Europe, the USA and Asia.
Source: Organotex
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