Offering solutions to combat COVID-19
All over the world a lot of research is happening, across industries to come out with solutions to tackle the situation arising out of the Covid -19 pandemic. The spotlight in the textile industry has been on the recent developments in the field of antimicrobial treatment and related solutions. Australia-based HealthGuard Corporation has been in the forefront of such initiatives and has been a name that has been constantly making the headlines for its Antimicrobial solutions in recent times. The company with three decades of expertise in non-invasive health care products has now joined hands with Britacel Silicones Ltd, India, who are considered pioneers in finishing chemicals with a global presence.
Going into details regarding the nature of partnership in an exclusive chat, Dr. Christopher Harvey, Chairman of HealthGuard Corporation, mentioned that while HealthGuard will be handling the technical, production and compliance part, Britacel Silicones will be taking care of the global marketing, distribution, application and technical support services.
While HealthGuard’s Office & production base is Melbourne, Britacel Silicones has got 3 manufacturing units located in Goa & Head office in Mumbai.
HealthGuard AMIC
HealthGuard had recently announced the test results of HealthGuard AMIC treated textiles against human strain Covid-19 (SARS COV 2).
“The results are astounding. After 10 minutes exposure to HealthGuard AMIC treated substrate the Human Strain of Covid-19 virus recorded a 99.9% reduction in viral activity. Further time delay testing at 60 minutes and 120 minutes, were even more astonishing, after 60 minutes and 120 minutes exposure the Covid-19 virus was certified as non-detectable. This once again exhibits that HealthGuard AMIC is the market leading anti Covid-19 treatment for textiles,” Mr. Harvey said.
“HealthGuard AMIC exhibits virtually immediate reduction in viral activity to 99.9% and then goes on to completely destroying the virus. You can be assured you have complete satisfaction with HealthGuard. The testing was carried out at one of Australia’s leading University and in conjunction with research hospitals and infectious disease institutions in Australia,” he added.
According to Mr. Harvey the solutions offered by HealthGuard for the textile industry includes Anti-microbial, Anti-viral, Anti-mosquito, Anti-bed bug and Anti-dust mites treatments, apart from non-alcohol based hand sanitizer and disinfectant.
Enthusiastic response
HealthGuard’s solutions are already being used by several leading names in the Indian textile industry. “Well, we have promoted our products to almost big and medium size organizations in India. Amongst them Vardhman, Siyaram, Welspun, Century Textile, Morarjee Textile, Mangal Textile, BSL Textile, GM Synthetics, Sutlej Industries, have shown interest to have a joint campaign for spreading awareness about our products. Some of them have officially launched their respective fabrics treated with HealthGuard’s product range. Many more press releases are expected to come out in about a couple of weeks’ time. We are also expecting two more international clients from Bangladesh and Sri lanka to launch a joint campaign soon,” Mr. Naishadh Desai, Chairman, Britacel Silicones added.
Given that there are other similar technologies doing the rounds, why should a customer go in for HealthGuard’s solutions? Responding to this question, Mr. Harvey stated: “HealthGuard AMIC technology naturally forms a film making it perfect for use on textiles. The residual film has ultra-low toxicity and can be used over a wide pH range. This offers it advantages in the fight against the Covid-19 virus.”
Buoyant about growth
When queried about the emerging consumer trends that they foresaw post Covid-19 pandemic in terms of increasing preference for specially treated fabrics with anti-microbial treatment, Mr. Arindam Choudhuri, Technical Head, Britacel Silicones replied:” Well, with customers thinking sensibly and due to fear psychosis, the trends are changing very rapidly indeed. While earlier Anti-microbial fabrics were constituting maybe 3-5 % of entire textile production, but now it may go up to 15%-20% of the entire production. This could be specifically for items such as outdoor apparels, towels, bed sheets, curtains, etc. Customers will be definitely feeling a lot more secure as they know that their day-to-day fabric or leather accessories will not become a pathogen hotspot. Even in the case of work wear, hospital wear and school uniform, specially treated fabrics will offer better characteristics like improved protection and long lasting freshness.”
Some of the key advantages of HealthGuard AMIC include:-
• Independently tested as 99.94% in the reduction of the Coronavirus on the treated textiles.
• Kills bacteria including superbugs such as MRSA.
• Not heavy metal salt based.
• Effective against a broad spectrum of gram positive and gram negative bacteria.
• Cosmetic chemistry based technology.
• HealthGuard AMIC has over 25 years of safety record.
• Durable to multiple laundry cycles. Independently tested.
• Compatible with all textile substrates.
• Economical to apply.
• Will not affect shade of dyestuffs.
• Simple to apply by padding, spraying or exhaust methods.
• Tested against SARS-COV-2.