UBC Okanagan creates non-toxic water repellant for clothing

UBC Okanagan researchers are helping outdoor apparel giant Arc’teryx stay environmentally friendly while keeping their clothes dry, with the introduction of water-repellant fabrics free of toxins.

Outdoor fabrics are typically treated with perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) to repel oil and water, and while effective, those compounds also pose a number of long-term risks, says UBC Okanagan engineering doctoral student and study lead author Sadaf Shabanian. 

“PFCs have long been the standard for stain repellents, from clothing to non-stick frying pans, but we know these chemicals have a detrimental impact on human health and the environment.

"They pose a persistent, long-term risk to health and the environment because they take hundreds of years to breakdown and linger both in the environment and our bodies.”

Shabanian and the research team solved the problem by adding a nanoscopic layer of silicone to each fibre in a woven fabric, creating an oil-repellant jacket fabric that repels water, sweat and oils, but doesn't require PFCs.

“The best part of the new design is that the fabric finish can be made from biodegradable materials and can be recyclable,” she says. “It addresses many of the issues related to PFC-based repellent products and remains highly suitable for the kind of technical apparel consumers and manufacturers are looking for.”

Arc'teryx materials developer and project collaborator Mary Glasper says the long-lasting positive impacts of using a non-toxic repellant are a major motivator. 

“An oil- and water-repellent finish that doesn’t rely on PFCs is enormously important in the world of textiles and is something the whole outdoor apparel industry has been working on for years. Now that we have a proof-of-concept, we’ll look to expand its application to other DWR-treated textiles used in our products and to improve the durability of the treatment.

“Working to lessen material impacts on the environment is crucial for Arc’teryx to meet our goal of reducing our greenhouse gas emissions by 65 per cent in intensity by 2030."

It’s a project that’s been in the works for a while for UBC assistant professor Kevin Golovin, who worked with Patagonia in 2015 when he was a PHD student. 

He continued working with companies such as Arc'teryx and Lululemon on the issue after moving to Canada. 

Golovin, who is also principal investigator of the Okanagan Polymer Engineering Research & Applications Lab where the research was done, says they realized during the research process there was a way to achieve the same goal without the use of PFCs. 

"We realized they weren’t unique. They were better, but not amazingly better and not the only thing that would work." 

Although the ultimate goal is to have clothing companies like Arc'teryx using the non-toxic fabrics, there are some short-term goals they need to accomplish first. 

"In order to replace what’s on there now, it has to last, so just because we made something that works doesn’t mean it will work over and over and over again after you wear the jacket hundreds of times. That's why durability either increasing or at least testing is the next step.

"But then it also has to be applied in a way that textile mills can apply it quite easily. Textile finishing is not a high tech process so it has to be something that’s readily doable in high volume, but at the level of a textile mill."

The research was published this week in the journal Nature Sustainability - which Golovin understands is a world first - and funded through a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada grant, with support from Arc'teryx Equipment Inc.