Clients from North America, Europe & Asia Are Seeking Antimicrobial Textiles
Seevix Material Sciences Ltd, which develops and manufactures synthetic SVX spidersilk, in May announced that ASICS Ventures Corporation has invested in Seevix. SVX possesses natural spidersilk's extraordinary strength and elasticity and is durable, yet sustainable and biodegradable. Integrated into commonly used polymers and bio-medical materials, SVX enhances their mechanical and biological properties, thereby addressing significant unmet medical needs. Seevix and the ASICS Institute of Sport Science will jointly develop sporting goods utilising SVX spidersilk. Shlomzion Chen, founder and CEO of Seevix, talks materials.
The covid-19 pandemic is not likely to go away any time soon. How do you see the market for textiles in the near future? How do you see material sciences taking on the challenge for performance fabrics / materials?
Research has shown the importance of facemasks to prevent spread of the virus. They will probably continue to be necessary to safely reopen the economy, restore the educational system, and so on. Accordingly, we expect that protective textiles, not only for medical and emergency workers but also for the population as a whole, will see very fast growth. The pandemic also has had an interesting side effect-it has made people more aware of the importance of sustainable technologies which protect our planet. Although many persons have been affected financially and will need to trim their budget for textile products, we expect consumers will be looking for clothing made of more durable, high quality materials that last longer and consequently do less damage to the environment. We are excited to be at the forefront of these trends.
As a company, where is your own demand the highest? What is your production capacity at the moment? Are you planning to ramp it up? Which countries are you currently exporting to? What are the bottlenecks that you see in exports right now?
Seevix is experiencing a steep rise in demand, and we are scaling up our manufacturing capacity as fast as possible. Clients from several sectors in North America, Europe and Asia are seeking antimicrobial textiles-for sportswear and personal protection applications, and also for textiles used in automotive and aerospace applications. We are working primarily with large corporations with whom we codevelop spidersilk-based textiles that are tailored to their specific needs, e.g. mechanical strength, elasticity, durability and toughness, thermal stability and chemical resilience.
Tell us more about the ASICS tie-up. How is sportswear itself going to change in the coming days?
Development of sustainable high-performance materials is one of ASICS's areas of focus. Based on testing of Seevix's SVX spidersilk by their R&D centre since 2017, ASICS believes SVX can be used in their sporting goods to improve both sustainability and functionality.
Tell us all about the applications of the Seevix spidersilk in medical / hygienetextiles, etc.
The tailorability of our SVX spidersilk will be leveraged to provide solutions for medical / hygiene textiles by providing these materials with antimicrobial and antiviral properties to not only trap and inactivate viral particles, but also to prevent bacterial growth, thus eliminating odours and reducing the possibility of infectious disease.
Published on: 08/08/2020
DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.
