Why Antimicrobial Fabric Treatments Will Be a Big Part of Our Textile Future—Latest Developments

Offering inherently protective garments and accessories within the fashion industry makes perfect sense, as do antiviral textiles and surfaces for the decor industry.

Textiles are the fabrics of our lives, literally, offering protection from extreme cold, excessive heat, and moisture; but in the COVID age, the urgent need for antiviral fabrics opens up a whole new chapter for the development of antimicrobial surfaces that now take center stage in the ongoing armory of PPE, a term that we are now all-too-familiar with.

As we emerge in unity from a global viral attack on our very species and seek to reduce the risk of contamination by changing everything that was once “normal,” how do we protect our freedom?

Could PPE apparel, smart textiles, wearables, and protective clothing for the fashion, sportswear, interiors, and hospitality industries offer the solution?

What was once a requirement predominantly for the medical profession is now set to cross into the general apparel sector—and beyond. Offering protective garments and accessories within the fashion sector makes perfect sense, as it does for the décor industry. Traction is growing, and it is about to become big business. As such, it offers the print industry a whole host of new opportunities.

Deep within the textile industry, scientists and textile technologists are working in unison and via corporate collaboration to develop innovative, groundbreaking technologies that, when deployed within the wider textile sectors, will nurture new commercial partnerships that will undoubtedly change the landscape of common textiles, moving forward to provide a solution that offers both scientific assurance and comfort to the global community, enhancing the fabrics we are all familiar with. It’s these invisible coatings and new fibers that offer us protection from an equally invisible enemy.

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