YKK, the renowned global zipper manufacturer, has secured the Best Product accolade in the accessories category at the ISPO Textrends competition for its groundbreaking DynaPel water-repellent zipper. The competition, conducted biannually alongside the ISPO trade show, highlights innovative contributions to performance textiles, components, and apparel.
DynaPel stands out for its compatibility with garment recycling systems, employing GTT’s EMPEL technology instead of traditional PU film for water repellency. This innovation addresses a critical hurdle in textile recycling by eliminating urethane materials, typically problematic in garment recycling.
Terry Tsukumo, Vice President at YKK Corporation, emphasized, “Receiving an ISPO Textrends Award helps validate the technology and our efforts to develop fasteners for circular systems.”
The EMPEL technology ensures robust water protection without the challenges posed by PU, a material often hindering textile-to-textile recycling. Conventional recycling systems struggle with polyurethane film, commonly found in water-repellent zippers.
By penetrating yarn and forming a water-repellent layer through molecular cross-linking, EMPEL creates a durable and invisible shield, revolutionizing water protection for zippers. Tsukumo envisions DynaPel as the future of sustainable, high-performance water-repellant zippers, heralding a new era in eco-friendly fashion accessories.
