In a survey conducted last year by MESH011 and published in Trend Insight magazine, 53% of consumers said that their attitudes to sustainability have changed due to the way the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted their shopping routines. And when asked if they feel it is still the brand’s responsibility to manufacture in the most environmentally-conscious way, 94% said ‘yes.’
Such surveys have indicated an increased desire among consumers to purchase products which last longer, and to invest in fewer, but higher quality items rather than buying something cheap and disposing of it after a few wears (and washes).
Therefore, while brands continue to pursue solutions such as recycled materials and less energy-intensive processes to reduce the impact of their production, they are also facing growing pressure to find ways to extend the life of their products.
A study in Sweden completed last year2 found that using garments twice as many times in their original form cuts the climate impact by almost 50%. This reduction is mainly due to fewer new garments needing to be produced.
Environmental impact
One particularly effective, but very simple way for consumers to extend the life of their clothes and other gear is by washing them less frequently. The fewer times a product goes through the laundry, the longer it will last. And doing less washing also saves energy and water, as well as time and money.
Technology from the Swedish firm Polygiene has been developed to help brands and consumers make this happen.
Polygiene’s Stays Fresh technologies allow consumers to significantly reduce the number of times they wash a product by controlling odor in textiles – to, quite simply, wear more and wash less. Polygiene BioStatic is an antimicrobial technology that stops the growth of odor-causing microbes.
As a result, any product treated with this technology will stay fresh and hygienic for longer, so it is not discarded prematurely due to odor. It can be used several times before washing and can be washed at lower temperatures. The treatment is bluesign® and Oeko-Tex® Eco Passport approved.
Backpacks that stay fresher for longer
A smart illustration of how Polygiene Stays Fresh technologies add value to a product can be found in two of the latest backpacks from US brand Gregory. Its new Kalmia and Katmai products, launched for Spring 2021, both feature Polygiene BioStatic technology, which is applied to all the material across the back panel – the area that comes into contact with the wearer’s body.
The validation of the technology came initially from Gregory's extensive testing process, in which all field-tested backpacks are sent to their headquarters for a post-mortem review.
"Our testers will use these packs for weeks and months on places like the AT [Appalachian Trail], where the packs are constantly inundated with sweat and bacteria from the wearer’s body,” Matt Connors, the Gregory product line manager, explains.
“By the time they get to us, they smell awful. It turns out that sweat odor is a chief complaint amongst our testers and for some becomes reason enough to not want to wear the pack."
After testing the new backpacks treated with Polygiene, it was found that this problem had been resolved, with virtually no sweat odor present.
So, for Gregory, this will prevent their new products from being prematurely discarded because they smell. And, as well as allowing wearers to use the Kalmia or Katmai for a greater length of time, the Polygiene treatment also means the backpacks are more likely to be sold on into the thriving second-hand market, helping keep the products alive even longer.
Extensive wear trials
As well as outdoor brands like Gregory, many major names from the world of sportswear have also put Polygiene technology through rigorous testing. These include Adidas, Salewa and Warrior Hockey, to name a few. These sports brands have completed extensive wear trials, with athletes putting the technology to the test to verify that it works when pushed to the extreme.
The effectiveness of Polygiene technology for active consumers has over recent years also led to growing interest among lifestyle apparel brands, and this has significantly expanded the use of Polygiene’s technologies. After all, only 10% of an average consumer’s wardrobe is sport and activewear. The rest is their regular clothes for lifestyle and business wear.
Fashion labels using Polygiene technology include Diesel, Tommy Hilfiger and Woolrich. Polygiene is helping brands such as these change the mindset and behavior of consumers, as it allows us – instead of automatically throwing our clothes into the laundry when we get home – to simply hang them out or air dry them, so they’re good to go once again the following day.
In all, more than 200 global premium brands have chosen to use Polygiene technology with their products, helping establish Polygiene as the leading stays fresh ingredient brand. And, even more importantly, as concerns intensify about the waste and environmental damage caused by fast fashion, Polygiene’s technologies are helping to fundamentally change the way that we view products – from fast consumables to durables.
Wider range of technologies
To help meet the growing demand it is experiencing, Polygiene has also expanded its range of technologies. Polygiene OdorCrunch, launched in 2019, is an odor control based on a sand and water solution. It deals with environmental odors such as cooking fumes and cigarette smoke that tend to stick to our garments. Once the odor molecules have stuck to the modified silica particles in OdorCrunch, they will be crunched and cracked to odorless molecules and the odor is eliminated.
And in 2020, in response to the growing demand for antimicrobial solutions sparked by the Corona pandemic, Polygiene launched its ViralOff technology, a treatment of textiles and other products* that reduces microbes by over 99% on the material per international standard ISO18184:2019 (SARS-CoV-2, H3N2, H1N1).**
To develop this technology, Polygiene returned to its roots – the company started in the healthcare sector in 2004 during the battle against SARS.
Polygiene ViralOff can be used to treat face masks, scrubs and other equipment used by medical staff, as well as for the public, where the functionality is relevant, such as in gloves and face masks, as well as bedsheets and even furniture.
The Czech premium fashion accessories brand är is among the latest to launch these types of products treated with Polygiene ViralOff. These include a line of multi-use face masks, gloves and a designer FFP2 certified respirator.
The need for product protection grows
Research has found that the desire for this kind of extra performance in our clothing, especially antimicrobial properties, has rapidly increased in the recent year, including in the West, where the demand for such attributes was less well-established than in Asia prior to the pandemic.
For instance, in the MESH01 survey published in Trend Insight1, 86% of respondents said that they now specifically seek out garments made with multi-functional fabrics.
When asked if there are any new terms that now resonate when shopping for active apparel and footwear, ‘antimicrobial’ was top of the list, with 50% of those surveyed pointing to this word. In addition, 59% of respondents said they would pay more for active apparel or footwear described as having some kind of antimicrobial attribute.
Addmaster acquisition
This year, Polygiene’s scope has widened even further following its acquisition in January of the leading global additive company Addmaster. The UK-based firm had been Polygiene’s supplier of antimicrobial additives for over 12 years. With Addmaster primarily active in hard surfaces, the company complements Polygiene’s strengths, which lie in textiles and soft surfaces.
The benefits of this can be seen in a variety of applications, including a new range from a major luggage brand set to be released soon. With both the hard handles and the material inside being treated, offering complete product protection. So, once again, it provides a combination of both antimicrobial protection and a longer lasting product, helping satisfy two of the biggest needs of today’s consumer.
*Polygiene ViralOff® does not prevent diseases but protects the treated material.
** Tested on certain materials according to ISO18184 on SARS-CoV-2, H3N2, H1N1, with over 99% reduction within 2 hours, in the product or the material.
1 https://www.trendinsightmag.com/textile-insight/2020/july-august-2020.html
2 Sandin, G., Roos, S., Spak, B., Zamani, B. and Peters, G., 2019, Environmental assessment of Swedish clothing consumption: Six garments – sustainable futures (http://mistrafuturefashion.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/G.Sandin-Environmental-assessment-of-Swedish-clothing-consumption. MistraFutureFashionReport-2019.05.pdf; accessed 10 March 2020).
