Nederlux: 'PFAS-free cloths - and yarns - are becoming the norm'

'Investors appeal to chemical companies: stop producing PFAS'. Just a headline from a quality newspaper this November. And it does not stand alone. After all, there is a lot going on around PFAS and it appears to be affecting the manufacturers of awning fabric as well. They are now doing their utmost to offer PFAS-free fabrics. And not without reason, because PFAS is harmful to the environment and the cloths that have been treated with it will eventually be banned. 

Awning fabrics undergo post-treatment to make them durable, water-, oil- and dirt-repellent, mildew-resistant, rot-resistant, and so on and so forth. "In itself all very useful, because the end user wants a high-quality cloth that preferably remains beautiful for as long as possible," says Klaas Jan Postma of NederLux, manufacturer of awning and screen cloths. "But post-treatment also involves the use of PFAS chemicals. So the major cloth manufacturers are now phasing out that use." 

Sattler SUN-TEX

We already read in Z&R 4 that Sattler has informed SUN-TEX that the production of their cloths ELEMENTS and LUMERA will be converted to PFAS-free as early as September 2023. That is well before the new certification guidelines of OEKO-TEX®, an independent organization for testing and certifying textiles and leather, come into effect. 

Dickson Constant

Dickson Constant says it has already invested significantly in R&D since 2015 to develop alternatives to PFAS chemicals in collaboration with accredited research laboratories and universities. As a result of these efforts, Dickson is progressively phasing out all PFAS chemicals and by the end of 2023, all newly manufactured Sunbrella® and Dickson® products will be completely PFAS-free. 

Schmitz Textiles (swela)

Schmitz Textiles will also switch to PFAS-free finishing of its swela polyester awning fabrics by the end of 2023 and will thus also achieve certification according to OEKO-TEX® Standard 100. The company says it has developed an alternative to PFAS that is ecologically harmless, has good manufacturing properties and offers corresponding protection as the originally finished fabrics. 

The three cloth producers emphasize that the transition to a finishing process without PFAS will not affect the durability and cleanability of their awning fabrics and that good resistance to water penetration will be maintained. Only oil repellency will decrease, a challenge that applies to all cloth producers. 

Yarn

Incidentally, the PFAS discussion does not stop with the cloth. "NederLux uses Tenara yarn for the confection of awning fabrics," says Postma. "That also contains PFAS constituents, so an alternative will eventually have to be found. Incidentally, we glue about 85% of the cloths and therefore the consequences of phasing out the Tenara yarn are less significant, but the top and bottom hems are still stitched and a suitable alternative will have to be provided for that at least from 2025."