When the first products with the new, more sustainable ePE membrane from Gore-Tex come onto the market in autumn, the world market leader for waterproof functional fabrics and with it the entire outdoor industry will have made a real about-face. Or?
PTFE is the basic building block of Gore-Tex
To understand that the development of this new, more sustainable ePE membrane represents a revolution for the US company WL Gore & Associates, one has to go back a little. The history of Gore-Tex begins in the 1950s when Bill Gore quit his job at the chemical company DuPont to devote himself entirely to the polymer polytetrafluoroethylene, or PTFE for short, which he firmly believed in as new possibilities. But it was his son, Bob Gore, who made the crucial discovery in 1969. He accidentally discovered that PTFE can be stretched or “expanded”. That was the beginning of Gore-Tex. However, it took another seven years before the microporous, water-repellent and vapor-permeable material was actually laminated to clothing fabrics and sold. It wasn’t until 1976 that the first rain jacket made from Gore-Tex came onto the market.
To this day, PTFE is and was the most important raw material of Gore-Tex and thus the basic building block for the global success story of this company.
Gore-Tex: Godfather of modern functional clothing
The importance of Gore-Tex for the entire outdoor and sports market can hardly be overestimated. Without functional specialists like Gore-Tex, the outdoor segment and the outdoor boom of recent years would probably never have existed in the clothing industry. No performance-oriented outdoor brand can avoid being waterproof, and fashion brands are also integrating more and more functionality into their outerwear.
What WL Gore & Associates did back then revolutionized the apparel market. This is another reason why Gore-Tex belongs to the select small group of brands whose names represent a whole category: If you want a waterproof jacket, you ask for a Gore-Tex jacket. Gore is only an “ingredient brand”, i.e. only a fabric supplier and not the manufacturer of the jacket. Gore-Tex isn’t the only laminate manufacturer either.
Greenpeace accuses: Outdoor industry destroys nature
However, this strong position began to falter in the 2010s. In 2011, Greenpeace launched the “Detox my Fashion” campaign against the use of hazardous chemicals in the clothing industry. The chemical group of PFCs played a prominent role here, because they cannot be degraded in the environment and can now be detected even in the most remote regions of the world. They are considered carcinogenic and hormonally effective. This brings us back to Gore: PFCs are used as an additive to make PTFE. In addition, PFCs were needed to make textiles water-repellent, which is necessary for laminated fabrics such as those from Gore-Tex to be durably waterproof and breathable – i.e. vapor permeable.
The outdoor industry pulls the ripcord
Greenpeace unleashed a firework of actions: worrying studies were published, brands were pilloried, protest actions were organized in front of shops, and the Ispo sporting goods fair held lectures and press conferences accusing the outdoor industry of destroying nature. Ironically, the nature-loving outdoor industry had to be insulted as the biggest polluter. The pressure on the entire industry was immense and more and more brands decided that they no longer wanted to use PFCs. In the area of water-repellent finishes (DWR), this has largely been achieved today.
It was also a turning point for Gore: In 2017, the Fabrics division of WL Gore committed to phasing out hazardous PFCs for general weatherproof laminates by the end of 2020 and for specialty laminates by the end of 2023. In addition, Gore would develop new and more environmentally friendly processes and publicly document that no harmful PFCs are released into the environment during the entire life cycle of its products. Greenpeace announced all of this in a press release headlined: “Success for the Environment – Gore Abandons Hazardous Chemicals / Largest Outdoor Clothing Supplier to Transform Industry”.
The new ePE membrane – polyethylene instead of PTFE
The question remains: What became of PTFE, which requires PFCs to manufacture? Gore actually went looking for an alternative to PTFE! The new ePE membrane, which will be launched this fall for the first time with selected partners such as Patagonia, is no longer made of PTFE but of polyethylene. The small “e” in the name ePE does not stand for ecological – which one could easily think – but for expanded, i.e. stretched. So Gore, which makes all of its membranes itself, found a way to process polyethylene in a very similar way to PTFE, which is also expanded. But: with ePE, Gore relinquishes the status of “inventor”. Because Gore is not the only manufacturer and also not the inventor of stretched polyethylene membranes. There is no doubt that Gore has enormous know-how in all these processes.
No PFCs
But how is ePE more sustainable? The new ePE membrane and the water-repellent finish of the laminate are free from ecologically harmful PFCs. The membrane also reduces the carbon footprint of the fabrics. Their better strength-to-weight ratio means fabrics can be made thinner and lighter. At the same time, less material is required, which has a positive effect on resource efficiency. Nevertheless, ePE is as durable as the PTFE membrane. Anything else would be neither sustainable nor would it correspond to the core of the Gore brand. In addition, Gore wants to rely more on recycled materials and new, more sustainable dyeing processes such as solution dye for the outer fabrics of the laminates. However, there is still no more information on the sustainability of ePE, for example on topics such as recyclability or disposal.
Why “ecologically questionable PFC?”
According to Greenpeace, Gore is delivering on its promise by developing ePE. Greenpeace commented on the announcement of the first ePE products in October 2021 in a press release entitled: “Detox success: Gore-Tex without dangerous PFCs”.
It remains strange that Gore is always very careful to use the term “ecologically questionable PFC”. And this is where opinions differ. Because Gore does not say that it dispenses with all PFCs, only those that are ecologically questionable. The subject is indeed complex. The class of PFCs includes more than 5,000 chemical substances, which in turn have an enormous range of properties. This ranges from volatile substances, which have rightly come under criticism in recent years and are now being eliminated from supply chains, to large, stable molecules, ultimately including PTFE. It seems as if Gore wants to offer a PFC-free product with ePE, but without discrediting all PFCs, of which PTFE apparently still belongs. According to the Gore definition, however, the PFCs here are not ecologically harmful. The fact is that much is still uncertain about the effects of these substances. Greenpeace therefore supports a proposal by five EU member states (Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden) to regulate all PFCs as a group, while the US state of Maine has already enacted a ban on all PFCs.
Is Gore dropping PTFE now?
Which brings us to the last question: what happens to PTFE now? Is Gore now converting all of its processes and relying entirely on ePE? no ePE is nothing more than another product in the large Gore-Tex portfolio. PTFE membranes will continue to exist. Also DWR finishes with PFC, namely for workwear for the fire brigade and police, for example, because no equivalent alternatives have yet been found.
When the first selected outdoor brands (including Adidas, Arc’teryx, Dakine, Patagonia, Reusch, Salomon and Ziener) start selling ePE products next fall, further development will depend on how the new membrane is received. This is then essentially in the hands of brands and consumers.