ZÜRICH – A new PFC-free water-repellent for leather has been established by Swiss textile technology business HeiQ and DuPont Consumer Solutions, a business unit of DuPont Specialty Products. The solution arrives on the back of growing industry demands for PFC-free solutions as more and more retailers move away from fluorinated chemistry due to environmental concerns.
HeiQ has already developed its innovative HeiQ Eco Dry line of PFC-free products, and the new collaboration with DuPont expands on this line, with the first product being a PFC-free water-repellent finish for leather – HeiQ DuPont ECO-LED. Wolverine World Wide Leathers, Inc. will be the first supplier to offer treated leather to their major brand partners.
HeiQ Eco Dry is a family of innovative, eco-friendly and non-PFC based repellent textile technologies that provide protection against water and water-based stains. This product family keeps textiles ecologically dry and enables them to handle wet weather conditions.
“We see many apparel items using PFC-free products. Consumers are now looking for this technology in other water repellent finishes for leather. Combining our high-performance pig nubuck with HeiQ DuPont ECO-LED for leather gives us an avenue to meet consumer demands,” said Suzanne Johnson, VP sales and marketing at Wolverine. “We are eager to offer an eco-friendly water repellency on our leathers to our brand partners.”
”This exciting relationship between HeiQ and DuPont focused on collaborating to create an environmentally-friendly water repellent leather solution for Wolverine as a first project,” said Colin Lantz, VP North American Brandforce at HeiQ.
He added: “This innovative non-PFC water repellent treatment achieves the industry-leading water repellency performance that Wolverine is known for with HeiQ’s hallmark environmentally sustainable formulation.”