"This very powerful US patent is key in our portfolio of technologies, as it has global implications when we look the future of water-free fabric finishing," said Selwyn, who holds a PhD in chemical physics from University of California at Berkeley and has been the recipient of three prestigious R&D ‘100’ awards, which honours the most innovative and revolutionary ideas in the field of science and technology.
Selwyn has been developing GTI’s clean and sustainable textile finishing technology over the past four years. Selwyn first started working on early iterations of the chemistry and technology in the kitchen in his home before outgrowing its cramped quarters.
"When we started exploring water-free finishing, we knew it would take years to perfect, but it would also start a technology revolution in sustainable textile finishing that would rock the textile industry," explained Selwyn.
“Anyone who has ever unintentionally sat on a wad of chewing gum immediately understands how the combination of pressure, heat and chemistry leads to a permanent textile finish. So we multiplied all of those by 20x, and did it to benefit the consumer and the planet," added Selwyn who founded GTI, a certified B Corporation, in 2016 with CEO, Martin Flora.
"This year, GTI brought its first product to market—a water-free (and fluorocarbon-free) repellency treatment—aptly named 'Aquavent' and which fully utilises Selwyn's patented technology. Aquavent’s patented process combines heat pressure and clean chemistry to hyper-fuse water protection into the fibres inside each yarn so it won’t wash out over time. This new technology adds water repellency to fabrics like wool suiting, running and exercise knits that normally don’t repel the rain," GTI said in a press release. (RR)
ALCHEMPro News Desk – India
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