Everywhere you read PFC-free? What exactly does PFC mean?
Perfluorinated and polyfluorinated chemicals, or PFC for short, are substances that are harmful to the environment and have a strong impact on our health. The chemicals are found in many everyday products such as cookware, paper, pizza boxes or textiles such as rain jackets. Once they are released into the environment, they are scattered around the world. Researchers found traces of PFC in drinking water, air, blood, polar bears and breast milk. Some PFCs can even adversely affect reproduction and cause cancer. The harmful fluorocarbons degrade very slowly - over several hundred years - or sometimes not at all.
Why is PFC used at all?
PFCs are used because of their water-, dirt- and fat-repellent properties and, among other things, in breathable membranes. PFCs are a popular means of impregnating textiles, especially in the outdoor sector. Without the water-repellent coating, the material would become soaked with water, wet and thus heavy.
This is how Deuter manages to impregnate in an environmentally friendly way...
For the sake of the environment, Deuter decided several years ago to manufacture all its products without environmentally harmful fluorocarbons (PFCs). Only how? For a long time, there was no comparable alternative to harmful chemicals. Only when Greenpeace launched the campaign "Detoxification of our clothing" in 2012 did suppliers and the chemical industry begin to develop alternative, environmentally friendly methods for impregnating textiles. Many outdoor companies - including Deuter - are responding to this.
All Deuter products will be free of PFC from Spring/Summer 2020!
In order to ensure its water and soil-repellent properties, Deuter now uses a DWR (Durable Water Repellency) that is harmless to health and environmentally compatible and completely dispenses with PFC. This special surface treatment ensures that water beads off the outside of the textiles and the product remains dry. With this method, Deuter is gradually approaching its goal of producing only PFC-free products by 2020.