RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – A partnership between Triangle-based PurThread and Japanese company Mitsui & Co. will result in the production and distribution of PurThread’s patented permanent microbial yarns in Asia.
The company’s technology protects fabrics through embedding silver and copper salts into fibers and yarns, a process that results in the fabrics and yarns becoming “permanently antimicrobial” according to a statement from the company.
PurThread
“We are thrilled to expand the offering of PurThread’s antimicrobial yarn by now making it in Asia with recycled polymers,” said Lisa T. Grimes, President & CEO of PurThread. “Customers have wanted not only the antimicrobial strength of PurThread but they also want sustainability, so we’re pleased to announce PurThread’s availability in recycled polymers.”
According to a 2014 research study published in the International Fiber Journal, the company’s technology, which involved the embedding of micro-particles directly into fibers, results in antibacterial properties that are effective.
Due to that effectiveness, and that the effectiveness remains even after industrial laundering, when manufacturing with fibers manufactured using the technology, it remains cost-effective for textile producers, as no special equipment or handling is required in order to have the fibers utilized in the manufacturing process, according to that study.
Expansion into Asia
Grimes noted that the company’s technology is already available in the United States, including production that is occurring in America, as well, and that the expansion into Asia is in part to meet the firm’s partners’ needs to source materials in the region.
“We consider it a privilege to be an active participant in the resurgence of the textile industry here in our home state as well as in the United States at large, and we proudly manufacture our fibers and yarns in the USA,” the PurThread website reads.
The company is based in Cary.
“We are extremely pleased to be expanding our collaboration of offering PurThread’s advanced antimicrobial technology in a recycled yarn alongside Mitsui’s extensive network in the functional textile industry,” said Ikuya Hagiri, general manager of fashion and textile department with Mitsui USA, a subsidiary of Mitsui & Co. “We believe that by meeting our customers’ needs for a permanent antimicrobial textile solution, combined with a well-known leader in technical yarn production, we will continue to meet the needs of our global customers.”
PurThread began a partnership with the publicly-traded retail company Burlington in 2015.
