Textile Insight

When brrr° was founded in 2014 by a former SPANX executive, her vision was simple: to bring innovative cooling functionality to fabrics to keep us more comfortable. brrr° has since become a leader in cooling technology that is permanently embedded in the structure of the yarn so it won't ever fade or wash out. Most brands that market themselves as "cooling" don't actually cool — they just wick. Some use chemical sprays and coatings to achieve a cooling sensation, and other products have to be wet to activate cooling. brrr° is setting a new standard with a patented process that combines a secret formula of natural cooling minerals, active wicking and rapid drying to create a "Triple Chill Effect" that instantly and continuously draws heat and moisture away from the skin. Every product is independently tested by globally recognized labs and proven to keep you cooler. Recently brrr° introduced a new performance cooling yarn called brrr° Pro, which uses micro cooling minerals to amplify the cooling sensation, plus hyper wicking and performance drying. In independent lab testing, brrr° Pro Polyester scored 0.194 in Q-MAX cool-touch testing, which was 81% better than another brand of cooling fabric and 53% better than a comparable performance polyester. brrr° holds several patents, and licenses its cooling technology to dozens of leading brands including Southern Tide, Vineyard Vines, ADAY, Adidas, Under Armour, Greyson, Shinesty, and Pajamagram. brrr° Defines the Future of Cooling Fabric Learn more at brrr.com to Parkes, lower the price, build a bigger plant, and the industry needs to make recycled textile waste a priority. Parkes added, "It will take time. Will we get there? I hope so." For Hyosung, multi-functional polyester and nylon are now available in recycled versions. Recycled spandex, and an increasing focus on bio-based innovation are top of mind. "It's been a race to recycled, and to a certain degree a clear route on the map exists; bio-based is a new path," said Whitmarsh-Knight. e company launched its bio-based creora spandex last year. e product uses 30 percent renewable resources and has 23 percent lower carbon emissions. e industry has eyes on "regenerative" as the next step in the journey to circular textiles. "People have jumped onto regenerative, however there is a lot of misinterpretation of the word," commented Whitmarsh-Knight, who mentions that the Savory Institute is introducing Ecological Outcome Verification (EOV) as a way to give a metric against a regenerative claim. CHALLENGES ON THE HORIZON When asked if "eco performance" textiles are the future of the industry, Polygiene's Björk responded, "I still believe that the biggest issue is not eco performance materials or sustainable materials, even if that of course is important too. e biggest challenge as I see it, is overproduction and overconsumption. is is by far more important to address than only focusing on materials and sourcing. To prolong the lifetime of everything that is produced – this is the solution to reach the global goals of decreasing the carbon footprint of the world." Björk continued, "As an ingredient brand and a technology company, we believe that chemicals can contribute a lot to a product's lifespan. Polygiene Freshness technologies is a great example of how we enable consumers to participate in the mission of consuming and protect clothing from over washing. An LCA that we recently ran with Sweco, a leading European engineering consultancy, we can prove that the environmental benefits by far outweigh the small costs to add our technology into a fabric." Another major hurdle for the industry is agreeing on what sustainability means. A plethora of certifications, organizations and eco-experts have emerged in recent years resulting in more confusion than clarity. Execs suggest that perhaps the time has time for consolidation around a few key topics, whether its garment recycling or chemical impact or regenerative. A collective decision on how to invest in the infrastructure needed would loosen some of the current bottlenecks, provide industry-wide direction and speed innovation. A growing sentiment among textile suppliers is that if the industry is confused about what sustainability means, then the consumer has no chance. n textileinsight.com Winter 2023 ~ Textile Insight • 25

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