Teflon EcoElite™
Renewably Sourced Finish

Skiwear pioneer Colmar partners with
Chemours to advance the garment
industry with eco-conscious repellents.

Imagine a repellent finish made from 60%
renewably sourced plant-based materials.

Imagine a garment that can reduce its
water and energy footprint 20-25%.

Imagine one that’s 3x more durable thanother non-fluorinated finishes.

Imagine a repellent finish that’s bluesign®
approved for meeting sustainable
standards in the garment industry.

Imagine a textile finish that continues torepel water and water-based stains for
30 washes or more.

You’ve just imagined Teflon™—reimagined.

Recently, so did Colmar, the storied Italian ski andsportswear company. And it helped them reimagine
their apparel finish for their sophisticated,environmentally demanding customers.

For Chemours, the challenge was that the industry
wanted new technology to deliver water-repellent
finishes. A new platform beyond the traditional
fluorinated solutions was required.

In addition to their commitment to sports
performance and style, Colmar is essentially atechnology company—always innovating to give
their devoted clientele an edge.

“We dug into our portfolio of renewably based raw
materials,” says Bob Buck, Technical Fellow for
Chemours. “We crafted-it-up, as the moleculararchitects that we are, and landed on probably themost durable, highest-performing water repellent
finishes around.”When its customers asked for sustainability,
Colmar listened and pioneered a different
approach. Consistent with their commitment to theenvironment for nearly a century, they looked toprotect garments with an eco-conscious solution.
In this case, a durable, water-resistant finish
derived from nature and, eventually, returned
to nature.

Teflon EcoElite™ ismanufactured with60% renewably
sourced raw material.
Enter Teflon EcoElite™ from Chemours—the first
repellent finish based on renewable raw materials.
Colmar has been owned and operated by theColombo family in Italy since 1923. We sat downwith Managing Director, Giulio Colombo, andMarketing Manager, Stefano Colombo, to talkabout how they embraced sustainable Teflon™
repellent finishes to meet the demands of theireco-conscious customer base. And the remarkablefollowing it has attracted in the marketplace.
“The consumer is telling us that the future issustainable,” says Stefano Colombo. “We’ve been
an early mover in sustainable fabrics because thisis where the market is going and because it’s theright thing to do.”Colmar was one of the first Chemours customers
to use Teflon EcoElite™—manufactured with 60%
renewably sourced raw material and up to threetimes more durable than existing non-fluorinated,water-repellent finishes. It can also reduce energy
and water use by 25% because fewer washes areneeded. All of this means a dramatically smaller
environmental footprint.
Teflon EcoElite™ works on a variety of fabrics
and is compatible with commonly used finishingauxiliaries including wetting agents and extenders.
And it allows for complete design flexibility soit’s consistent with Colmar’s reputation as a
fashion-forward brand. Not only does it work withalmost every fabric, it’s also quite effective withcustomers.
“The products treated with Teflon EcoElite™ havebeen the most successful in our collection,” says
Stefano. “They are more popular because ofthe added value the natural finish gives us. Andcustomers are getting the same, or even better,performance than the normal treatment,” he said.
Stefano says the results have motivated thecompany to extend the technology to its
other lines. Currently, the Italian apparel company
uses Teflon EcoElite™ on 90% of its skiwear andnearly 70% of all garments.
And, in the industry overall, the brand is on fire. In
the first half of 2017, over 12 million hangtags
have been issued for Teflon EcoElite™.
Zelan™ R3 from Chemours is the new breakthroughtechnology behind Teflon EcoElite™. The finish
effectively repels water and water-based liquids
such as fruit juice, hot coffee, red wine and more.

Zelan™ R3 has earned the USDA Certified
Biobased Product label. The designation verifies
that Zelan™ R3 meets or exceeds levels set by
the USDA for the amount of renewable,biobased ingredients.
Market research in the United States, Europe andChina has shown that consumers value the Teflon
EcoElite™ brand, performance and renewability.
It says they are willing to pay up to 7% more forouterwear that features Teflon EcoElite™ as
compared to other branded nonfluorinatedproducts. It also indicates that they will pay atleast 17% more than they would for genericwater-repellent products. And the good news
across industries is that 66% of consumers
report that they’re willing to pay more forenvironmentally responsible products.
Of course, beyond the research, there are theresults in the actual marketplace.

“Every time we source a new finishing for a newfabric, we are always afraid that it cannot meet theneeds of our designers or cannot meet what wewant to do with the product, “ says Giulio Colombo.
“This is not the case with Teflon EcoElite™,” hesays. “It meets exactly what we are looking for. Notchanging the aspect of the fabric. Not changing thehand touch, the feel and the look of the fabric. Thisis a big advantage for Teflon EcoElite™ compared toother products in the market.”“The result of this work we have done together isan increasing market share because the customer
appreciates that our garments have something they
are looking for, something special,” he added.
Teflon™. Reimagined.
For more information, visit www.teflonecoelite.com.

“The productstreated with Teflon
EcoElite™ have been
the most successful
in our collection.”— Stefano Colombo
Marketing Manager of Colmar© 2017 The Chemours Company FC, LLC. Teflon™, Teflon EcoElite™, Zelan™, and any associated logos are trademarks or copyrights of The Chemours
Company FC, LLC. Chemours™ and the Chemours Logo are trademarks of The Chemours Company.
The bluesign® logo and bluesign® are registered trademarks of bluesign technologies ag.
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