Nikwax & the Future of DWRs

GEAR:30

BLISTER

Arts, Design, Skiing, Snow, Snowboarding, Sports, Outdoors, Bike, Technology, Gear

4.9 • 809 Ratings

🗓️ 29 November 2019

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

DWRs — or “Durable Water Repellent” coatings — play a huge role in the performance of your outdoor gear, and are used on nearly every waterproof garment on the market. But most DWRs are made with chemicals called PFCs, which can be harmful to you and the environment.

Nikwax, however, makes products intended to extend the lifespan of outdoor gear, and none of their specialized cleaning, conditioning, or waterproofing products have ever used PFCs. So we talked with Heidi Allen from Nikwax about how DWRs work; the dangers of PFCs; how the industry is attempting to shift away from PFCs; garment care; and more.

TOPICS & TIMES:

Heidi’s background growing up off-the-grid (1:00)
Durable Water Repellent (DWR) overview (2:54)
DWRs vs. Membranes? (6:50)
Hydrophobic vs. Oleophobic? (11:38)
Why do clean garments perform better? (17:15)
Alternatives to PFCs (19:06)
Environmental & transparency initiatives at Nikwax (27:01)
The future of DWRs (31:09)
Páramo (33:30)

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey everyone, I'm Sam Shaheen and you're listening to Gear 30 on the Blister Podcast Network.
0:14.0	DWRs, or durable water repellent coatings play an enormous role in the performance of your outdoor gear.
0:20.7	However, most of these DWRs are made with some pretty nasty chemicals called PFCs, which are not great for you or the environment.
0:28.6	So today, we're talking with Heidi Allen, who's the VP of marketing at Nick Wax.
0:33.6	Nick Wax makes products intended to extend the lifespan of your outdoor gear,
0:38.2	and none of their specialized cleaning, conditioning, or waterproofing products have ever used PFCs,
0:43.5	which is pretty unique in the industry.
0:46.1	Heidi and I discussed the ins and outs of DWRs, the dangers of PFCs,
0:50.9	how the industry is attempting to shift away from PFCs,
0:54.0	garment care, and much more.
0:56.0	Let's check it out.
0:58.6	So today, I'm sitting down with Heidi Allen from Nick Wax.
1:02.9	How are you doing today, Heidi?
1:04.8	I'm doing great. Thanks for having me.
1:07.1	Yeah, of course.
1:08.4	So today we're going to talk a little bit about DWRs and PFC. It's kind of a hot button topic. But to start off, can you tell us a little bit about your background and how you ended up in your current role at Nick Wax?
1:21.9	Sure. Yeah. So I'm going to take you way back. I was raised in extremely rural New Hampshire, like off the grid, solar power, all of that. And my family started backpacking when I was six years old. So basically, because of all that, the outdoors and a measure of frugality has been kind of baked into me from that.
1:45.5	So when I was out looking for a career, I really knew that I wanted to work for a company
1:51.0	that had a similar passion for the outdoors, but also for sustainability.
1:58.0	So, NICWax really kind of resonated because we make products that help extend
2:03.4	the life of people's outdoor gear by cleaning it and re-waterproofing it. And also our focus on
2:08.6	environmental issues and sustainability have really kept me with the company for over 10 years now.
	...

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