HeiQ and Patagonia partner on PFC alternatives

Outdoor clothing brand Patagonia and Swiss textile technology business HeiQ have announced a strategic partnership to explore new ways to create sustainable textile finishing technology to achieve breathable and durable water repellence (DWR).

Recently awarded the Accenture Strategy Award for Circular Economy Multinational among 230 applicants at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in recognition of its accomplishment in reducing waste in its production processes and products, Patagonia has been a leader in building high-performance products with the vision to a greener and more sustainable future, and at the heart of its strategy is to minimise the proliferation of toxic chemistries.

The partnership it hopes will create technologies to help find new ways for sustainable water repellence for its outdoor clothing, and comes as the outdoor industry is under pressure to cut down on or eradicate its use of perfluorinated chemistries (PFCs).

“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 commercialising high performing, sustainable textile finishes and we believe that together we can find a solution."

The HeiQ research leader for this project is Dr Murray Height, co-founder and chief technology officer of the HeiQ Group, he commented: "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 realise an improved non-pfc DWR technology and achieve a new level of performance in this field.”

Among HeiQ's product portfolio, there are already several fluorine-free DWR technologies, including HeiQ's HeiQ Eco Dry product, which it claims is the most effective non-pfc water repellent textile technologies on market, capable of achieving water repellency performance identical to or better than PFC C6 levels.