OAKLAND, Calif. — June 13, 2018 — In keeping with Generation Tux’s mission of providing the finest selection of quality wedding garments and accessories — all through an ultra-convenient online platform — Generation Tux, and its CEO George Zimmer, proudly debut their new television advertisements.
“I am excited to be able to tell America that ‘looking good has never been this easy,'” said Zimmer.
“Our new television advertisements highlight how Generation Tux easily provides quality suit and tuxedo rentals from start to finish — online for today’s grooms,” Zimmer continued.
Generation Tux is an online tuxedo and suit rental platform founded by menswear legend George Zimmer. Zimmer created Generation Tux in 2014 to provide high quality tuxedo and suit rentals at competitive pricing and in the most convenient way possible — shipped directly to your door. The company has a wide selection of tuxedo and suit styles and over 200 color combinations to match the most current fashion trends. Using the highest quality fabrics and materials, these suits are made from the finest Super 130s wool, leather and silk.
CHICAGO — June 13, 2018 — Steelcase today announced that its family of brands won top honors in several categories for its showroom and products at NeoCon 2018, North America’s largest design exhibition and conference for commercial interiors. The company’s newly expanded and redesigned Chicago showroom has been named Best in Competition and the Best Large Showroom (4,000 sq. ft. or larger). Other honors for Steelcase brands include three Best of NeoCon Awards, an Interior Design HiP Award and a #MetropolisLikes Award. Designtex, a Steelcase company, also received three Best of NeoCon Awards.
“This has been a milestone year for us as we’ve launched a redesigned WorkLife space, numerous new and innovative products and additional partnerships,” said Steelcase president and CEO Jim Keane. “We’re honored to be recognized for these efforts. It is a testament to our team’s creativity and our collective commitment to giving our customers a broader array of choices to help them have a better day at work.”
Steelcase received the following recognition:
Steelcase was awarded Best in Competition in the IIDA/Contract Magazine Showroom & Booth Design Competition and was also named the Large Showroom category winner. This annual competition, sponsored by the International Interior Design Association (IIDA) in partnership with Contract Magazine, honors outstanding creativity in corporate branding initiatives for showroom and booth design at NeoCon. The new Steelcase showroom includes a reimagined and redesigned WorkLife space and an all-new WorkCafé, featuring spaces for socialization and collaboration. Both spaces showcase the company’s vision for how to create a great employee experience by designing spaces that support people’s wellbeing, embedding technology to help make spaces more effective and providing a range of diverse choices that give people control over where and how they work.
Steelcase and its family of brands won six 2018 Best of NeoCon Awards, presented by Contract Magazine, honoring the top new commercial interiors products introduced to the market.
SILQ™ by Steelcase Design Studio won an Innovation Award in the Seating Ergonomic Desk/Task category. SILQ, a breakthrough in seating design, its patent-pending material composition and new manufacturing process is redefining the office chair. Its simple design is more organism than mechanism and responds intuitively to people’s natural motion. It is now available to order.
Mackinac™ by Steelcase won an Innovation Award in the Furniture Collections for Collaboration category. Mackinac (MAK-uh-naw) offers a range of furnishings that support the accelerated pace of work and help people move, think and feel better. Its unique, height-adjustable cantilever work surface allows people to quickly shift between individual focused work and collaboration without leaving their workspace.
Embold™ by Steelcase Health won Gold in the Healthcare Guest and Lounge Seating category. Embold is a collection of seating and tables that combine beauty with accessibility, while offering a variety of sizes and material options. Inviting and expressive, Embold brings residential styling to healthcare with a collection that is versatile for a wide range of people, needs and spaces.
Surroundings by Designtex won Gold in the Healthcare Fabrics & Textiles category. Surroundings is a healthcare textile collection centered around the patient experience. The textile designs featured in the collection balance high-performance and calming aesthetics to offer added psychological and physiological benefits through the use of biophilic design elements, visual refinement and innovative Celliant® technology. The FDA has determined that Celliant products are medical devices as defined in section 201(h) of the Act and are general wellness products.
The Celliant® Collection by Designtex won Gold in the Textiles: Upholstery category. Designtex Celliant is a responsive textile made with patented, cutting-edge fiber technology that incorporates a proprietary blend of thirteen thermo-reactive minerals. These minerals reflect naturally emitted infrared energy back to the user’s body to provide performance, health and wellness benefits.
Designtex + Coalesse Collection was named Editors’ Choice in the Textiles: Upholstery category. The collection features nine patterned textiles that celebrate and evoke the synergy of cross-disciplinary collaboration. Utilizing the expertise of small specialty mills, the resulting designs delve deep into a nuanced exploration of color, geometry and the tactility of fine fibers.
The fifth annual Interior Design Honoring Industry People & Product (HiP) Awards, which celebrates commercial industry pioneers and their achievements, awarded Steelcase with honors for SILQ in the Workplace Seating: Task category. Turnstone’s Clipper™ was also named a finalist in the Workplace: Partitions & Walls category.
SILQ is also a 2018 #MetropolisLikes Award winner, selected by Metropolis editors.
WASHINGTON — June 13, 2018 — The COTTON USA Sustainability Task Force, established by the U.S. cotton industry in 2017, recently established national goals for continual improvements in key areas of environmental stewardship, farm productivity and resource efficiency including land, water, air, input and energy use by 2025.
These goals were set after the Task Force thoroughly reviewed Field to Market: The Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture’s most recent National Indicators Report data illustrating the industry’s past achievements in reducing its environmental footprint.
“Sustainability is no longer just about checking the box on responsible practices, it’s about accountability and quantifying success — that’s what consumers, brands, retailers and U.S. cotton farmers really care about,” said Cotton Council International President Ted Schneider, a Lake Providence, La., cotton producer. “As the world’s largest cotton exporting country and the third largest producer, our industry’s sustainability efforts have the potential to reverberate throughout the global textile supply chain.”
The six specific goals the COTTON USA Sustainability Task Force has set to achieve by 2025 are:
Reducing the amount of land needed to produce a pound of cotton fiber by 13 percent;
Reducing soil loss by 50 percent, in balance with new soil formation;
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 39 percent;
Reducing energy to produce seed cotton and ginned lint by 15 percent;
Increasing water use efficiency (more fiber per gallon) by 18 percent; and
Increasing soil carbon in fields by 30 percent.
The United States cotton industry is the first to establish national, quantifiable goals for sustainability. Additionally, its farmers operate under voluminous, stringent and enforceable regulations.
Membership in the Sustainability Task Force includes representatives from all the U.S. cotton industry’s seven raw cotton segments: cotton producers, ginners, merchants, co-ops, warehousers, cottonseed processors and U.S. textile mills. This holistic approach helps to ensure a coordinated and effective response to environmental issues.
Task Force member Ronnie Lee, a Georgia cotton producer and past National Cotton Council chairman, said, “Our industry wants to be the supplier of choice for those who are committed to only buying cotton that is produced with sustainable and responsible environmental, safety and labor practices.”
The U.S. cotton industry has made great gains in sustainability over the past 35 years and has reported significant declines in land use, soil loss, improvements in water efficiency, energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. To establish and measure these goals, U.S. cotton uses science-based metrics and benchmarks developed by Field to Market: The Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture to assess environmental impacts and identify opportunities for improvement. Field to Market works across the entire agricultural supply chain to define, measure and advance the sustainability of U.S. crop production.
ROSELLE, N.J. — June 13, 2018 — Particulates, water, and oil in compressed air can be destructive to downstream equipment. Particulate contamination can cause valves to fail prematurely. Moisture and oil can degrade seal materials. Dirty air reduces efficiency and shortens equipment service life.
The Eliminizer Series compressed filter/dryers can be installed at point of use or on the main line, in heavy duty service where heavy water & dirt removal is needed. These filter-dryers are perfectly suited for protecting pneumatic valve actuators and other air-driven tools; ensuring clean, dry compressed air eliminating future valve failures.
The Eliminizer is constructed using a patented cyclonic inverse flow technology and has excellent water & dirt capture to 1 micron. ISO Class 2 particulate.
The cyclonic inverse flow design guarantees the Eliminizer will not allow moisture downstream. Air enters through the NPT inlet port and travels down the plastic sheath around the filter element forcing the air to swirl in a cyclonic fashion. Centrifugal forces drive moisture and contaminants outwards collecting in the inner surface of the bowl. The air reverses direction and enters the filter element, passing through a two-layer filter packing comprised of stainless steel mesh which holds aerosols and liquid droplets. Filtration to 3.0 micron. Air then passes through the final filter media composed of interwoven cotton, polyester and stainless steel. Filtration to 1.0 micron.
The Eliminizer Series also features a differential indicator (GREEN for Clean, RED for clogged), as the filter element clogs with dirt the indicator slowly transitions from GREEN to RED making it easy to identify which units require filter element replacement.
Typical Applications include automotive, bottling, cement, food processing, painting, bakery and winery.
DAYTON, Tenn. — June 12, 2018 — IRONTURF™, the breakthrough woven synthetic turf technology from GreenFields USA, has set a new record for durability. In recent tests by Labosport, an independent testing facility, Ironturf maintained playability past 300,000 Lisport cycles. In separate tests, it easily surpassed the 6,020 Lisport XL cycles required for FIFA certification.
Lisport testing, in which turf is subjected to abrasion that simulates foot traffic and field wear, is the turf-industry standard for assessing performance and durability. Surpassing 300,000 cycles — ten times the current industry standard — is unprecedented.
GreenFields Director of Marketing, Erica Rumpke, called the Ironturf results, “a very important validation for our woven-turf technology, and a clear statement that traditional tufted turf products can no longer be considered best-in-class.”
She pointed out that even after 300,000 cycles, which took a year to complete, Ironturf didn’t fail — the GreenFields team just decided enough was enough.
“These tests take a lot of time and money, and at a certain point you just say, ‘Okay, this is the toughest turf in the history of turf and we’ve proven enough here.’ There was still zero yarn loss; the fibers hadn’t split and were still standing up.”
The tests were conducted at Labosport’s Canadian laboratory, the only FIFA-certified facility in North America. Ironturf’s performance exceeded any product they had ever tested.
GreenFields develops, produces, supplies and installs innovative synthetic turf systems in collaboration with and as part of the TenCate Grass Group. GreenFields has sales partners in more than 100 countries and ranks among the frontrunners in the market in a variety of sports, including football and soccer.
YORKVILLE, Ill. — June 12, 2018 — Aurora’s Expressions Semi-Gloss and Matte products, in addition to Aurora’s Accent Knit fabrics, were recently on display at the IT Supplies networking reception held in cooperation with the Digital Textiles Printing US 2018 conference, June 7-8, in Chicago.
Organized by Smithers Pira, Digital Textiles Printing US 2018 took a close look at advances in the industry as well as the future of textile digital printing.
Presentations included topics on workflow management, color management, new inks, new printing technologies, sustainability and the impact of new advances in the digital printing of textiles for home décor and soft signage applications.
At the IT Supplies networking reception, several of Aurora’s printable textiles were used by printers to demonstrate their printing technologies. This includes Aurora’s popular Expressions Canvas products, which were being printed on Canon’s new Oce´ Colorado UV printer and HP’s 360 latex printer. Meanwhile, Aurora’s Accent Soft Knit 5 was being printed in a dye sub transfer demonstration.
Mark Shaneyfelt, Aurora’s marketing & sales director for Printable Textiles, said the IT networking reception was a great showcase for several Aurora products specifically developed to optimize color and print output at manufacturing speeds on the industry’s latest digital printers.
Shaneyfelt and Marcia Ayala, vice president of Aurora, attended the conference.
“It was a great forum to network with others …. and learn about challenges and new technologies in the industry,” said Ayala. She added that the growth in printable textiles “was consistently reported as double-digit per year,” and soft signage is a significant part of that growth.
“The future is bright for soft signage,” she said. “We want to continue to serve and offer new products for that market.”
Shaneyfelt added that the conference reinforced how quickly textiles are becoming a mainstream media for digital printing. “If printers are not already printing with textiles,” he said, “they are seriously considering printing on textiles in the near future.”
Collocated fabric, sourcing and home textiles shows will highlight Autumn/Winter 2019-20 trends, as well as findings and trims.
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Texworld USA — along with Apparel Sourcing USA and the Home Textiles Sourcing Expo — will be held July 23-25, 2018,at the Javits Convention Center, New York City.
Texworld — produced by Atlanta-based Messe Frankfurt Inc. in partnership with Austria-based Lenzing AG — is based on sister show Texworld held in Paris, and is designed to connect fabric manufacturers with top buyers.
Also produced by Messe Frankfurt, Apparel Sourcing USA is a marketplace dedicated to sourcing international manufacturing services. The show provides apparel brands, retailers, wholesalers and independent design companies a place to connect with international apparel manufacturers.
Home Textiles Sourcing Expo — produced by Messe Frankfurt in partnership with the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT-TEX) — offers manufacturers, retailers, jobbers, converters, contract specifiers and designers a venue to source fabrics and finished soft goods for home collections and applications.
According to organizers, the collocated events are sure to offer a one-stop shop for textile buyers, independent designers, fabric sourcing professionals and other industry people with an interest in apparel fabric sourcing, apparel design, trends, industry education, and manufacturing/private label development services.
“Texworld USA together with Apparel Sourcing USA and Home Textiles Sourcing offers designers, fabric sourcing professionals and anyone looking for manufacturing or private-label development a marketplace for networking, education and sourcing,” said Show Director Jennifer Bacon.
Texworld USA
As an international business platform, Texworld USA offers a huge selection of quality and affordable fabrics covering the entire spectrum — from on-trend fabrics, and sustainable and eco-friendly fabrics to innovative performance fabrics — as well as trims and accessories from trusted suppliers from all over the globe. Exhibits will be organized into 15 product groups: Cotton; Denim; Embroidery and Lace; Faux Fur; Findings, and Trims and Accessories; Functional Fabrics; Jacquard; Knits; Linen; Prints; Shirting; Silk; Silky Aspects; Wool; and Yarns.
“Texworld is a viable global fabric and manufacturing resource that I look forward to each and every season,” said RoDerick Gilbert, senior designer, Robert Graham Designs.
According to Messe Frankfurt, the July 2017 edition of the show attracted 5,000 visitors and 513 exhibitors from 12 countries.
Highlights at the July 2018 event include a Texworld Showcase Trend area showcasing Autumn/Winter 2019-20 trends compiled by Texworld’s Art Directors — Louis Gérin and Grégory Lamaud; a Frankfurt Style Award Fashion Activation featuring works of selected designers; Textile Talks with discussions hosted by StartUp Fashion among other hosts; an Explore the Floor series with guided tours of the show floors led by industry experts; and a Facebook live segment with Fashion TV, among other highlights.
The Texworld USA seminar series organized by Lenzing Fibers will feature speaker Laurie Pressman, vice president, Pantone. The schedule for the complimentary industry-expert-led sessions and panel discussions will be published online at the Texworld website in advance of the show.
Apparel Sourcing USA/Home Textiles Sourcing Expo
Exhibitors at Apparel Sourcing USA are organized into eight end-user groups as follows: Activewear, Childrens/Infantwear, Juniors, Ladieswear, Bridal/Special Occasion/Cocktail, Menswear, Sportswear, and Swimwear/Lingerie.
New at Apparel Sourcing’s July edition is the Local Loft. “In 2018, we will introduce the Local Loft, which is a unique platform highlighting local and sustainable apparel factories, contractors and services geared towards attendees looking for domestic and locally-sourced production facilities,” said Bacon.
“This year’s Spotlight area will feature ‘The Art of Customization – Findings, Trims and Accessories,’ a trend chosen by the Texworld art directors,” Bacon added. “The show will feature a trim activation curated by the Trim Queen Jana Platina Phipps. Jana is a NYC-based embellishment expert known for her refined vision in the use of trimmings in fashion and home furnishings. Jana also will be conducting a hands-on workshop on how to create trims.”
Products from international suppliers at Home Textiles Sourcing are grouped into six major categories:
Bed – including bed linens, bedding, quilts, throws and decorative cushions;
Bath — including bath textiles and accessories;
Table — including kitchen linens, table coverings and table decorations;
Floor — including carpets and rugs;
Window — including decorative fabrics, curtains and textile curtain accessories; and
Upholstery — including upholstery fabrics and decorative cushions.
Items in each category are made using a variety of fabrics and/or components.
One highlight at Home Textiles Sourcing is “The New Home Textiles Landscape – What’s Needed to Survive and Thrive Tomorrow” panel discussion. Sponsored by Home Textiles Today, the discussion will be moderated by the publication’s Editor in Chief Jennifer Marks.
Home Textiles Sourcing and Apparel Sourcing USA visitors also are welcome to attend the complimentary Texworld USA seminars.
Admission to the collocated events is free for qualifying trade show visitors. Guests may register online prior to the event, or on-site using photo identification and a business card. Exhibit halls are open on July 23 and 24 from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m., and on July 25 from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m.
In total, more than 750 companies and 7,000 attendees are expected to participate in the July editions of all three shows.
For more information about Texworld USA, Apparel Sourcing USA, and Home Textiles Sourcing Expo visit texworld usa.com, apparelsourcingshow.com and hometextilessourcing.com.
InPrint and Pure Digital Cofounder Frazer Chesterman (far left) facilitated the roundtable discussions.
Two-day industrial digital printing conference offered the community insights on developing new business opportunities.
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The InPrint USA Industrial Inkjet Conference recently wrapped after two days of informative presentations and round table discussions at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago. The conference was designed to provide “the industrial print community with unique, thought-leading insights on adopting digital technologies to develop new business opportunities.” And the great news for the textile industry is that many leaders in the industrial printing community see lots of growth and opportunity in textile printing especially in home décor.
Multiple presenters mentioned digital textile printing during their presentations, and textile applications were often mentioned during the Industrial Inkjet Roundtable Discussions, which was facilitated by Frazer Chesterman, co-founder, InPrint and Pure Digital.
The round table offered the chance for conference attendees to learn from one another “by sharing insights, experiences and challenges related to the adoption of inkjet technology,” according to organizers.
During the round table when asked, “Which sector offers the best immediate growth for industrial inkjet?,” participants overwhelmingly answered décor — including textiles, flooring and wallcoverings — as well as packaging. And when asked, “Is single-pass inkjet technology the key to opening market opportunities for industrial print manufacturing?,” respondents agreed there is some value in single-pass technology for the right markets — primarily packaging and textiles.
Following the initial presentations on both days, conference attendees then had the opportunity to select from a Technical track or Creative track to obtain information specific to their own business interests. Rachel Nunziata, product development manager, 4Walls, a designer and manufacturer of wallcoverings for residential and commercial contract markets, gave a presentation in the Creative track entitled, “Industrial Print Opportunities in Décor.”
Marcus Timson, cofounder of InPrint and Pure Digital, gave the opening morning presentation where he discussed the advantages, growth and growing pains of the industrial inkjet sector in a changing world.
In the Technical track, Dr. Hamid Shirazi, Aqueous Inkjet Ink Product Manager, Fujifilm Imaging Colorants presented, “Inkjet Technology: Latest Trends and State of Fujifilm Technology. “Fujifilm has major development efforts in key aqueous inkjet markets including commercial printing, textile, packaging and décor, including flooring and laminates,” Shirazi said. “However, each of these markets and their sub-segments are at a different digitization conversion rate so we encounter very different requirements and demands for each segment. Our scientists and application specialists find that many of the lessons learned and experience gained in one market can be very relevant to other market segments at a lower digital conversation rate.”
“The content of the InPrint Conference was focused on where the industrial inkjet market is headed and how manufacturers can implement the technology into their production to drive business growth,” stated Kevin Jackson, InPrint USA exhibition manager. “Implementation has its challenges, but our goal at InPrint is to help the manufacturing community learn from each other and provide access to the information and technology they need to succeed in their business goals.”
The next InPrint event in the United States — InPrint USA – the International Exhibition of Print Technology for Industrial Manufacturing — will be held April 9-11, 2019, in Louisville, Ky.
SYFA conference tackled the marine debris challenge and cyber security among other topics.
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The Synthetic Yarn And Fabric Association (SYFA) recently held its annual Spring Conference at the Sheraton Charlotte Airport Hotel in Charlotte, N.C. The conference’s “USA Textile Technologies: New Materials, Design and Applications” agenda featured speakers covering a wide variety of technology topics in addition to an economics update and review of the current climate for technical textiles.
Alasdair Carmichael, Carmichael International, addressed the hot topic of fibers as a contributor to marine debris; while Andrea Ferris, co-founder, Intrinsic Textiles Group LLC, discussed an innovative solution developed to prevent microfiber pollution and unrecycled man-made fiber textiles that are sent to the landfill. Intrinsic’s CiClo™ Technology — which is an easy to implement, upstream solution, according to the company — allows polyester to biodegrade more like natural fibers in wastewater treatment plants and landfill conditions.
Jim Hemsley, IS manager, Techmer PM LLC, also highlighted the importance of cyber security — that is protecting computer systems from theft and damage to hardware, software or information as well as service disruption — for textile companies. It’s an often-overlooked necessity, which is becoming more important than ever in the age of Industry 4.0 with internet-connected machinery.
Conference sponsors for the spring event included Gold Sponsor Premiere Fibers Inc.; Silver Sponsor Pulcra Chemicals LLC; Bronze Sponsors Burlington, DAK Americas LLC and PolySpinTex Inc; and Patrons & Exhibitors Sponsors 4M Plants S.r.l., Clariant Masterbatches, The Filament Factory LLC, Goulston Technologies Inc., Milliken & Company, National Council of Textile Organizations, Unifi Manufacturing Inc. and William Barnet & Son LLC.
The next SYFA Conference will be held November 29-30, 2018.
Click here to view a gallery of images from the event.
Dr. Donald J. Wagner II, Technical Marketing Manager, BIOSAFE, Gelest Inc.
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Dr. Donald J. Wagner II invented the patented silicon-based antimicrobial polymer known as BIOSAFE, and currently is technical marketing manager for Gelest Inc. Following an exclusive licensing agreement, in 2016, Gelest acquired the Biosafe technology outright from Biosafe Inc. In April 2017, HM4100 Antimicrobial — marketed as Biosafe — received full U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) registration for food contact substrates, and in July 2017 the product became certified under NSF 51 for food contact. Wagner graduated from Virginia Polytechnic and State University in 2001.
Textile World: What is currently happening in the antimicrobial market for medical textiles, and what are companies focused on?
Wagner: Fashion, function and controlling costs are probably the three biggest things. Scrubs have become fashionable and even a pseudo-status symbol for health care professionals such as nurses and doctors.
The medical textile function is important in that the textiles are barriers between healthcare workers and their patients. Not only are scrubs the uniform of the staff, making healthcare workers are easily identifiable to patients and family members, they are also the physical barrier.
Fluid barriers for medical textiles can be hydrophobic and oleophobic. Recent advancements in fluid barrier technology help scrubs shed water and other fluids that can contain disease-causing microbes. A textile’s ability to repel fluids is important in keeping the textile clean, but there are new technologies that deliver antimicrobial performance to the textile itself on a continuous and ongoing basis. Such technologies control microorganisms within the textile, keeping them from being a vector for the transmission of microorganisms associated with the healthcare environment.
TW: What characteristics or properties does the medical community require for medical textiles?
Wagner: The key is protection. The fluid barrier and antimicrobial chemistry add a unique level of protection that a standard textile lacks. The Journal of Hospital Infection in March 2015 pointed out that healthcare textiles, including uniforms and apparel, are vectors for transmission of microorganisms that cause infections and illness to healthcare workers, patients, and the community. The impact is underestimated because of the lack of point-source investigation of textiles during outbreaks.
TW: What factors must a manufacturer consider when launching a new antimicrobial textile in the marketplace?
Wagner: Price and performance. The medical textile that has excellent fluid barrier properties and antimicrobial performance is certainly valuable, but it may not warrant a price twice that of a standard medical textile. For context, imagine a medical textile containing an antimicrobial technology that prevents a $20,000 infection. Then, of course it’s worth the 100 percent premium. But from a clinical perspective, how would you find causation between the textile and preventing the infection?
It is very difficult. The industry should take a common-sense approach and use medical textiles that are cost-effective, but also have the technologies that could prevent the spread of infection.
TW: What are the regulatory requirements for medical textiles, and how does this affect marketing?
Wagner: Medical textiles fall under both EPA and U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) jurisdiction. It’s a situation called dual jurisdiction. From a commercial textile point of view, this is an EPA issue. It falls under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) division of the EPA and its Pesticide Registration (PR) Notice 2000-1. But from a medical textile perspective, scrubs can be considered a medical device if delivering antimicrobial performance. Navigating the overlapping jurisdictions and governing rules with EPA and FDA can be a tough path. A company launching an antimicrobial medical textile must ensure that the active ingredient is EPA-approved for use on textiles, and additionally is acceptable as a modifier to medical devices under FDA guidance.
TW: How is Gelest BIOSAFE HM4100 antimicrobial different from other antimicrobials used in medical textiles? How does it work?
Wagner: There was an existing silane quat antimicrobial which was invented and commercialized in the 1970s. Unfortunately, it was flammable and poisonous. The company Biosafe worked with this material, and in the process invented a newer version.
We found our niche by polymerizing the existing monomer into a dry powder. This new HM4100 Antimicrobial dry powder could be compounded in plastics, dissolved into water, used as a surface treatment, or even spun into man-made fibers. The breadth of application of the existing technology was expanded greatly by the Biosafe antimicrobial powder’s ability to remove the volatile organic compounds, flammability and poisonous aspects of the older methanol-based solution.
BIOSAFE® protects materials used in a wide range of consumer and industrial applications where microorganisms can cause staining, pitting, deterioration or foul odors.
The Biosafe mode of action is to physically disrupt the cell membrane. By contrast, traditional biocides work by poisoning the cell from the inside out. Most old-school biocides are based on heavy metals or chlorinated phenols and leach out of textiles. They are metabolized by the microorganism. When enough of the poison builds up inside the microorganism, it causes lethal mutations to the DNA and cell lysis. Unfortunately, this mode of action also leads to adaptive organisms, or as they are known in the healthcare environment, superbugs. Because Biosafe is non-leaching and is not metabolized by the microorganism, nothing is transferred to the cell and the microbe has no chance to adapt to this mode of action.
TW: In what form is Biosafe antimicrobial available for textile production, and what benefits does it provide medical textile manufacturers?
Wagner: It is available as a dry powder or as a liquid in water or solvent. The Biosafe material can be spun into fiber directly, used in fiber finishing methods, or as a treatment to finished textiles. The hydrogen bonding and covalent bonding ability of the polymeric siloxane make it ideal for treating textiles.
To be competitive, medical textile manufacturers must address the ongoing concern about the role of healthcare apparel and other healthcare textiles in transmitting pathogens. Biosafe antimicrobial offers medical textile manufacturers the ability to address these concerns.
TW: What kind of toxicity testing is necessary to prove the safety of an antimicrobial, and how did Biosafe perform when tested according to these protocols?
Wagner: Before a textile company uses an active antimicrobial, the active must be approved through the U.S. EPA FIFRA for use on textiles and apparel. The antimicrobial must pass a series of six acute toxicity tests. Companies can go beyond this protocol and also conduct biocompatibility testing under ISO 10993.
Biosafe showed no negative effects in any of the acute toxicity tests. It also is considered biocompatible under ISO cytotoxicity, systemic toxicity, and intracutaneous toxicity. Further, Biosafe has been subjected to the 48 day repeat insult patch test (RIPT) and a mutagenicity test. There were no untoward effects, and the results are available upon request.
TW: What trends do you see shaping the future of medical textiles regarding antimicrobial properties and other key requirements?
Wagner: Medical textiles are considered personal protective equipment (PPE) and play a major role in protecting healthcare workers from transmissible pathogens. Recent literature1 clearly illustrates that healthcare textiles can be a vector for transmission of germs. The trends that will shape the future of the medical textile industry will be technologies than can enable textiles to reduce the acquisition, retention, and transmission of infectious microorganisms found in blood, bodily fluids, and the environment. Gelest’s Biosafe antimicrobial is a very small part of a medical textile. The market is large and the demands are for low-cost, high-performance products. If Gelest delivers powerful antimicrobial technologies at a competitive price, then we have done our job.
1 A. Mitchell et al. / Journal of Hospital Infection (2015) 1e8
