Carrington Textiles, a leading producer of workwear fabric in UK, has been ISO certified for its latest development of antiviral and antibacterial finish for fabric.
The launch aims to support the world’s need of protective clothes for the frontline workers including the healthcare, construction, hospitality, etc. that requires more protection than ever.
The company has obtained ISO 18184:2019 ‘Determination of antiviral activity of textile product ‘certification for the new finish for fabrics.
The trials were done on Alba 2, the manufacturer’s main scrub suit poly-cotton fabric, using the sanitised branded treatment that harnesses the natural antiviral and antibacterial properties of silver.
The fabrics are coated with the finish and then baked into fabrics using special machines at the end of manufacturing process.
The development has been tested in the independent laboratory in the UK by using an enveloped virus. The results were 99 per cent efficient towards deactivating the virus in 2 hours.
Even after 50 washes at 60 degrees, 98 per cent of viruses were shown to be deactivated – thereby indicating that the finishes can survive a lifetime.
The fabric made using the antiviral finish would be safe for the face covering, medical wear and a variety of workwear.
The ability to retain the property even after many washes also makes it an environment-friendly garment, as these would reduce the amount of disposable PPE that ends up in landfill.
The novelty is suitable to be used on woven fabric. The woven fabric has big pores to provide effective protection against the virus, and therefore the finish works as a barrier that will capture viruses before they have the chance of passing through the pores of the fabric and deactivates them.
It also kills the bacteria in the same way and has an added advantage of working as ‘built-in deodorant’ as it delivers protection against unwanted bacteria that causes unpleasant odour.
