OrganoClick’s fluorocarbon-free water repellent fabric treatment gained a record amount of interest at the ISPO sports products fair in Munich
Newly returned from the 2016 ISPO sports products fair in Munich, the Swedish cleantech company OrganoClick AB report a record level of interest in the company's product OrganoTex®, which offers a biodegradable and fluorocarbon-free alternative for the water repellent fabric treatment of clothing and shoes.
Fluorocarbons, also known as perfluorinated compounds (PFAS or PFC) have been a hot topic in recent years, but following the Greenpeace report last week - and the wide coverage it received in the international media - the debate is now hotter than ever. Fluorocarbons have been used since the 1950s to make clothing and textiles water repellent, but many fluorocarbons, such as PFOA, have significant negative drawbacks including extremely slow degradation in nature and being suspected of causing cancer and hormonal disruption.
“Since Norway introduced restrictions for PFOA in consumer products in 2014 the issue has been a hot topic in the textile sector. At the ISPO fair last week we had 300% more visitors to our stand than in 2015 and we are now having tangible discussions with several international clothing brands who want to transition to an entirely fluorocarbon-free water repellent technology by 2017, or by 2020 at the latest,” says Mårten Hellberg, Managing Director (CEO) of OrganoClick AB.
Transitioning to fluorocarbon-free is a complicated process for the clothing companies as this means that new technology must be implemented and fine-tuned at many fabric manufacturing sites, in different countries and for different materials. OrganoClick AB makes this transition easier by providing technical service and sharing expertise about the problems of fluorocarbons with the textile manufacturers. The clothing brands are also expected to guarantee that no contamination from fluorocarbon can occur at the manufacturing sites of subcontractors, where both fluorocarbon-free and traditional alternatives are often used in the same factory.
“We offer the clothing brands that use OrganoTex® regular testing for fluorocarbons so that the clothing brands and their customers can be sure that the product is fluorocarbon-free as promised,” says Robin Grankvist, OrganoClick AB Business Area Manager.
OrganoTex® is produced in Täby, north of Stockholm, by OrganoClick AB. The chemical component in OrganoTex® consists of hydrophobic hydrocarbon chains that can be rapidly biodegraded and are classed as entirely non-hazardous according to the European REACH chemical regulations. OrganoTex® provides a very high and sustainable water repellent function that maintains the natural appearance and texture of the fabric.
For further information contact:
Robin Grankvist, Business Unit Manager Performance textiles & nonwoven
Phone: +46(0)8 684 001 11
Email: robin.grankvist@organoclick.com
About OrganoClick
OrganoClick AB (publ) is a Swedish cleantech company listed on Nasdaq First North that develops, produces and markets functional materials based on environmentally friendly fiber chemistry. Examples of products that are marketed by OrganoClick are the water repellent fabric treatment OrganoTex®, the flame and rot timber protectant OrganoWood® (through the subsidiary company OrganoWood AB) and biobased binders for non-woven materials. OrganoClick was founded in 2006 as a commercial spinoff company based on academic research examining the modification of biofibers performed at Stockholm University and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. OrganoClick has won several prizes and has been designated “Sweden's most promising start-up company”, Sweden's best environmental innovation and has appeared on the Affärsvärldens och NyTekniks top 33 list of “Sweden's hottest technology companies”. The company has also received a number of awards, such as The Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) “Climate Solver” award. OrganoClick’s headquarters are in Täby, north of Stockholm, where the company's production, R&D, sales and marketing departments are located. OrganoClick's Certified Adviser on Nasdaq First North is Erik Penser Bankaktiebolag.
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