Textile Innovation Aboard the America’s Cup
Tue, Mar 30th, 2010The Alinghi sailing team will during America’s Cup be using a highly innovative and novel water repellent technology on its sailing jackets to ensure maximum repellency under the harshest of conditions. The ODLO produced jackets use Barrier by HeiQ® - a superhydrophobic technology developed and manufactured by the Swiss company HeiQ Materials.
In the America’s Cup, only the best materials are selected to enable both crew and boat to meet the extreme demands for performance. When Swiss sports clothing company ODLO equipped the Alinghi team with jackets they selected the world-leading Barrier by HeiQ® water repellency effect.
This unprecedented breathable textile treatment guarantees that the Alinghi crew stays dry and comfortable at all times before, during and after the race, giving the crew the freedom to fully focus on the sailing tasks at hand.
The high-performance repellency provided by Barrier by HeiQ® comes from a unique microparticle based treatment applied during the textile manufacturing process. The resulting biomimetic structure of the textile surface imitates the self-cleaning surface structure of the Lotus leaf, thereby providing exceptional water repellency, an effect also known as superhydrophobicity. ODLO jackets treated with Barrier by HeiQ® provide the Alinghi crew with durable water repellency under the most demanding weather and sports conditions possible.
“We decided to select HeiQ’s product after multiple testing of leading repellent effects, and Barrier by HeiQ® was clearly standing out in comparison”, says Andreas Kessler, CEO ODLO. “ODLO has always been a forerunner in textile innovation and by using Barrier by HeiQ® we again show our commitment to bringing word-leading innovation to our customers. HeiQ has demonstrated again to be an ideal innovation partner with rapid, efficient and cutting-edge development for our most demanding needs.”
“We are very proud that our innovation has been selected for use by Alinghi in their defense of the America’s Cup”, says Kristofer Skantze, head of sales and marketing with HeiQ Materials AG. “Barrier by HeiQ® raises the bar on water repellency performance and the level of protection end- customers should be able to expect in modern fabrics. This is the third generation particle based textile effects technology developed by HeiQ over the last 5 years and the selection of Barrier by HeiQ® for Alinghi is testimony to the leading textile effect technologies that HeiQ offers.”
For more information on Barrier by HeiQ® for your application, please contact your local BST represent ative. Barrier by HeiQis available for mills throughout Europe exclusively through Beyond Surface Technologies AG.
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