Denmark Leads the Fight Against Harmful PFAS Chemicals in Textiles
Denmark is taking the lead in the fight against harmful PFAS chemicals in textiles and pushing for environmentally friendly alternatives. In the future, your clothes, shoes, and furniture will be able to be treated effectively without the use of environmentally damaging PFAS chemicals. This has become necessary after a unanimous parliament recently decided to introduce a ban on PFAS in the mentioned products starting from July 2026. The current alternatives to PFAS treatments are not as effective in protecting textiles. Therefore, Danish researchers and companies are working on developing a solution that could also impact the phase-out of PFAS in other industries.
Technological Institute and the company Guardian Protection Products A/S are collaborating to create a PFAS-free waterproofing spray that will effectively protect textiles from water, grease, and dirt. This project is supported by the Ministry of Environment and could, according to data from the European Chemicals Agency, lead to significant environmental benefits. The textile industry accounts for 30 percent of all PFAS emissions, especially because PFAS are released during clothes washing.
Companies need to quickly find good alternatives to PFAS in order to future-proof themselves. “PFAS in waterproofing has unique properties, so we need to think outside the box to find something else,” says consultant Emil Damgaard-Møller from Technological Institute. “But if successful, there are both significant environmental benefits and business opportunities,” he adds.
The Danish ban is just the first step towards a broader ban on PFAS in the EU, which Denmark has proposed. This can have an impact on many other industries that use PFAS. Over the next two years, the Technological Institute will research and test the market for substances that can replace PFAS in textile waterproofing. Subsequently, a PFAS-free waterproofing agent should be ready for evaluation.
“PFAS have unique properties, so it is a huge challenge to find a more environmentally friendly alternative. But if an alternative exists, we will find it. We can always just stop using PFAS in textiles, but then the product just becomes inferior,” says Emil Damgaard-Møller. The challenge is to find new substances that, like PFAS, are both water-resistant as well as grease and dirt-resistant.