Textile finishes reduce allergen load

In a joint pilot study, scientists from the William Küster Institute at the Hohenstein Institute, Boennigheim, Germany, and CHT R. Beitlich GmbH in Tübingen, Germany, have established principles for pollen management on textile surfaces. Researchers developed two anti-pollen textile-finishing treatments. The biofunctional finishes work in opposite ways: either repelling the pollen or binding it in. While clothing may have pollen-repellent properties to reduce the amount of pollen brought into the home, it’s better for domestic textiles like sofas and carpets to have a pollen-binding effect, in order to keep allergens away from the sufferers. To assess the allergy risk of textiles for hay fever sufferers, Hohenstein scientists have developed a test set up for pollen adhesion/repellence in the laboratory that simulates the flight of pollen and helps determine how it adheres to textiles.