OrganoClick a Swedish clean tech company produces functional fiber-based material using environmentally friendly chemistry presented a tailor made garment of the water repellent and fluorocarbon-free fabric OrganoTex at the seminar called The world’s most sustainable catwalk that took place in Almedalen this week. The presented OrganoTex-treated garment was designed by Karolina Nilsson.

The tailor-made garment shown in Almedalen is made from recycled polyester by OrganoClick´s Taiwanese partner Chang-Ho Fibers. The raw-material for the fabric originates from 7 Up bottles collected by the Buddhist charity organization Tzu Chi Foundation in Taiwan.

Water repellent treatments (so called DWR’s) for textiles and garments almost always contain fluorocarbons, a group of chemicals that are bio-accumulative and can cause cancer and are hormone disturbing, the company reports.

OrganoClick has developed an alternative DWR-technology free from fluorocarbons, which is said to contain only non-harmful substances, which are biodegradable.

By using biodegradable and non-toxic chemistry in their products they can be sure that they don´t cause any environmental problems which the long-chain fluorocarbons do, commented Robin Grankvist, Business Area Manager for Performance Textiles & Nonwoven at OrganoClick.

The new fluorocarbon-free technology has been developed by OrganoClick´s scientists and in January 2014 it was implemented in factories at Chang-Ho Fibers, a Taiwanese textile producer.

Since then about 100 textiles has been developed, which are water repellent and free from fluorocarbons, according to the manufacturer. Filippa K was the first fashion brand to start use OrganoClick’s technology in its collection in February 2015.

Tailor-made garment made from recycled polyester is undyed and thereby the original green colour of the bottle has been preserved, which is said to save great amount of chemicals, water and energy during the manufacturing process. The garment has been developed in collaboration between OrganoClick, Chang-Ho Fibers, the Textile University of Borås and TEKO.

MÃ¥rten Hellberg, CEO of OrganoClick said that they are very proud to present such a well-designed sustainable garment that combines sustainable chemistry, recycled raw-material and savings in energy.

OrganoClick scales up its production of its water repellent, fluorocarbon-free durable water repellent, and other sustainable chemistries for the global market for wood, textile and fiber industries.

They will open a new factory in Arninge, north Täby. Investing in this new facility will result in a fourfold increase in production capacity for the company's sustainable chemistry formulations, resulting in total production of around 20,000 tonnes annually.