Chemicals

Researchers are developing a process with alternative substances that can be used to produce environmentally friendly water-repellent textile fibres.

High levels of PFAS from textiles have been detected along Asia's longest river, the Yangtze, posing low to medium ecological risks.

Leading US off-price retailers Ross and Burlington continue to sell leather and faux leather fashion accessories containing high levels of toxic lead, says a report by nonprofit watchdog Center for Environmental Health (CEH).

Researchers in Denmark have engineered a dyeing method that eliminates the need for harsh chemicals which can enable largescale production and application of indican, a molecule derived from the same plant that bears indigo.

The European Chemicals Agency's (ECHA) just launched and publicly accessible chemicals database now has information on over 360 000 chemicals.

Biotech company Evolved By Nature has come up with a biofinishing system that gives leather all the performance and required style variations, without many of the toxic chemicals.

Cleantech biochemical company Nature Coatings has received a $2.45 million seed funding from some leading investors including actor and environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio to help push adoption of its groundbreaking BioBlack TX — a unique carbon-negative black pigment sourced from FSC certified wood waste.

A painstaking, exhaustive analysis of documents by University of California (UC) researchers has revealed that the chemicals industry used all nefarious tactics in the playbook to delay public awareness of PFAS toxicity and, in turn, delay regulations governing their use.

Sustainable Chemistry for the Textile Industry (SCTI) and Together for Sustainability (TfS) are collaborating to drive convergence in standards and methodologies and inspire both the leather and textile industry to act for a better future.

Outdoor brand Patagonia and trim supplier YKK have, at one of their production sites, replaced a commonly used dye chemical with a lower impact version from the stable of the Italian innovation-driven chemical group ERCA SPA.