LIFE-FLAREX project, led by AEI TÈXTILS, the Catalan Technical Textiles’ Cluster, run from July 2017 to June 2020.

The main objective of the project was the mitigation of the environmental and health impacts caused by hazardous compounds resulting from halogenated-, antimony- and formaldehyde- containing Flame Retardants textile finishing products on European ecosystems, by analyzing the best available textile finishing products and implementing those innovative technologies for FR applications in the interior textile contracting.

Now, after the closure of the project, the consortium is pleased to inform about the publication of the Layman’s report on the project website. The English version can be downloaded here.

This report is a summary of the activities carried out and the results obtained.

The document is available in other six languages: Catalan, Spanish, Italian, Czech, French and Dutch.

All other outputs from the project are also published and available for the chemical and textile industries as well as for the users and general public.

On 17^th June, a webinar was organized to present key findings from project as a case study aimed to find sustainable FRs alternatives, to discuss main findings with international experts and increase stakeholders’ engagement, to inform the textile industry about policy advances and new approaches and to collect industry feedback about a pressing topic.

Presentations of this webinar, as well as the recorded session, are available here.

This project is an example of collaboration between clusters, with the aim to improve the competitiveness of their members, which are SMEs in the advanced textile materials’ sector.

Given the interest on the subject and the difficulties that textile SMEs face on the substitution processes, AEI Tèxtils decided to give continuity to LIFE-FLAREX, with the SUSTEX project.

SUSTEX is co-funded by the Waste Agency of Catalonia and will be implemented from January 2020 to October 2021.

The project aims to provide tools and knowledge to the Catalan textile industry in order to promote substitution of hazardous chemicals used in the finishing processes to enable the application of environmental criteria in the manufacturing of its products. This will be achieved through a series of activities including a preliminary study of the current situation in Catalonia, interviews with companies from the textile finishing sector and with chemical suppliers. These preliminary activities are directed to baseline the current market situation and to identify the availability of potential alternatives that will be used in communication and workshops organized for the sector. A sectoral guide promoting substitution of hazardous chemicals for the textile finishing processes will be produced based on the learnings of the different activities and previous projects led by AEI TÈXTILS, such as LIFE-FLAREX. The sectoral guide will facilitate the Catalan textile industry the process of substitution.