WIPES & CLOTHS Man-made imitates nature (continued) vens such as NanoTech micro and QuickStar micro. “While these are not as thick as a classical cotton cloth they are extremely dense in their structure,” said Wirsching. “This enables them to remove bacteria and spores while also leaving a streakfree finish. “Our PVAmicro has a base material of microfibre which is then covered by an ultra-absorbent PVA gel. Making this is a complex procedure and the result is a cleaning cloth designed for sensitive surfaces that still has the feel of a textile.” Managing director of Ecotech Europe Paul Brownhill agrees that customers tend to be sentimentally attached to natural products. “Textiles have been used for cleaning for more than 200 years,” he said. “The main features of a textile are bulk, strength and absorbency so it is important to be able to emulate these qualities in a manufactured cleaning cloth.”
demand for natural-looking products. “We are also seeing a trend for environmentally-responsible cloths while in some areas – such as in the food service and hygiene sectors - it is important cloths look good as well as perform well,” he said. All microfibre products have the look and feel of textiles according to Greenspeed product manager Bert Lagarde. The company makes microfibre mops and cloths for cleaning and dusting plus microfibre non-woven cloths.
Attached to textiles?
Time-consuming Making such products can be timeconsuming and expensive, he adds. “This is because man-made wipes and cloths need to be fit for use in different applications and capable of performing according to certain criteria,” he said. “The feel, performance and look of a product are all fundamental to whether or not it will suitable for use.” Ecotech Europe products with textile qualities include microfibre cloths made from a polyester and polyamide mix that are said to be able to withstand more than 500 machine washes. The company also offers EnvirowipePlus cleaning cloths made from viscose and polyester that can be machine-washed up to 15 times. Like other manufacturers, Brownhill claims that man-made products offer benefits over their natural counterparts. “Traditional cloths such as cotton dishcloths, dusters and so on are not as hygienic as non-wovens,” he said. “Manufactured cloths have been designed for specific tasks so they outperform cotton cloths. For instance how many times have you polished your shoes with a yellow duster and left fibres behind on your shoes as a result?” However he believes there is growing
“A microfibre is simply a very thin, synthetic fibre that is 100 times finer than a human hair,” said Lagarde. “But only microfibres are treated with a unique splitting process that provides extraordinary cleaning results.” He concedes that making a cloth-like product is both time-consuming and expensive. “The difficulty lies in testing the different compositions of the fibre since the product has to work while also being easy to handle,” he said. “For example a 100 per cent microfibre mop would only be suitable for dry dusting since if it were used for damp cleaning it would be too heavy to move across the floor.”
Les fabricants de tissus et d’essuyeurs ont mis au point des produits étonnants ayant l’allure et le toucher de la soie, du cotou et du daim. Il est ironique de constater que les travaux les plus récents de R&D en la matière visent à produire des articles qui soient aussi proches que possible de l’alternative textile. Ainsi, cet investissement en vaut-il la peine, vu que les utilisateurs ont toutes les raisons de s’en tenir à une lingette en coton ou à un essuie-tout en daim véritable ?
Hersteller von Tüchern und Wischtüchern präsentieren erstaunliche Produkte, die aussehen und sich anfühlen wie Schappeseide, Baumwolle und Chamois. Ist es aber nicht ironisch, dass das höchste Ziel der Forschung und Entwicklung bei Wischtüchern die Herstellung eines Produktes ist, das der textilen Alternative so nah wie möglich kommt? Warum lohnen sich diese Investitionen, und warum sollten wir stattdessen nicht einfach ein Baumwolltuch oder ein Stück Chamois verwenden?
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Most Greenspeed microfibres are made from 70 per cent polyester and 30 per cent polyamide. According to Lagarde it is the testing process – plus the fact that each product is fit for purpose - that makes man-made products superior to their textile counterparts. Other qualities that make them more effective include an exceptionally long life even with frequent washing, and the ability to clean using a minimal amount of water and cleaning agents, he says. “People in the cleaning sector tend to require soft, high quality cloths that are easy to handle and that give good results,” says Lagarde. “And every application needs a product with a different composition to provide a perfect cleaning result. We don’t manufacture products and then try to find out where they might be useful: we develop products that solve a problem.” So will end-users remain sentimentally attached to the notion of a textile product going forward? Or will they embrace manmade alternatives? Vileda’s Dr Jochen Wirsching believes customers are increasingly switching on to products that perform better than textiles. “Performance, hygiene results and productivity are the factors that count most in the cleaning sector,” he said. “Customers also want cloths that can be laundered successfully and that effectively release chemicals on to the wiping surface rather than retain them within the cloth. These factors – as well as practical benefits such as foldability and stackability – all count for more than having a ‘naturallooking’ product.” And SCA’s Lars Fingal also predicts that functionality will win out at the end of the day. “The time it takes to perform a task is becoming more of an issue than whether or not the cleaning or wiping product used to execute it has textile-like properties,” he said. “As a result we are already seeing a trend in some companies towards putting efficiency and hygiene first. But for now we will continue to try to simulate nature with our products – though in a more efficient way.” I produttori di panni e strofinacci stanno elaborando dei prodotti incredibili che sia al tatto che a livello visuale sembrano di seta, cotone e camoscio. Ma non è ironico che il fatto più nuovo della ricerca e sviluppo sia creare un prodotto che sia il più simile possibile all’alternativa tessile? Cosa rende l’investimento fattibile e perchè le persone non dovrebbero semplicemente utilizzare invece un panno in cotone o camoscio?