Innovation in anti-viral textiles in response to the COVID-19 crisis is taking off with ingredient suppliers around the world contributing new treatments to help protect from coronavirus. It will be a technology to watch in performance products in the upcoming seasons.

Swiss textile company HeiQ has been leading the charge and recently announced a new partnership with Arvind Limited, India’s leading textile-to-retail conglomerate. Arvind will offer shirting and suiting fabrics, readymade garments and face masks using HeiQ Viroblock technology in India under the company brand Intellifabrix. HeiQ Viroblock significantly enhances the antiviral log reduction and reduces viral infectivity by 99.99 percent and is one of the first textile technologies in the world to claim such efficacy on SARS-COV-2. HeiQ Viroblock has been designed to stay active on treated garments for 30 gentle domestic washes, ensuring safety for the consumer that lasts for a good part of the garment’s life.

PRONEEM, a Marseilles-based biotechnology company founded in 2003, specializing in micro-encapsulation of natural active ingredients to functionalize textiles, has developed a textile treatment with high antiviral activity called VIRALSTOP.