Question from Jason
Hi Debra,
I was wondering is clothing with recycled nylon in it such as Tracksuits,outwear jackets &etc are they safe to wear? Reason i ask is i am intrested in buying this Rain jacket https://www.patagonia.com/product/mens-torrentshell-rain-jacket/83802.html.
Thanks.
Debra’s Answer
Here’s a page from Patagonia about their recycled nylon.
Nylon is made from petroleum but it not a major chemical of concern. So I wouldn’t call this fabric “toxic” but it may not be suitable for some people sensitive to petroleum.
My greater concern for a product such as this is waterproofing. Patagonia is a very conscious and responsible company that is working hard to eliminate toxics in an industry where waterproofing has historically been very toxic.
The description says they use ” H2No® Performance Standard ”
You can go to this page to see all their materials and this page to see H2No® Performance Standard specifically. It has a lot of data about how they test for waterproofness but doesn’t say anything about the chemicals, nor does it claim to not be toxic,
I think I’ll give Patagonia a call and see how far I can get with them about full disclosure or materials.
I’ll report back next week.
For now, recycled nylon OK, waterproofing UNKNOWN.
UPDATE 12 March 2019
As promised above, I did call Patagonia customer service at 800) 638-6464.
I have not recommended Patagonia clothing in the past because of their use of toxic waterproofing. While Patagonia has taken many steps to improve the environmental impacts of their products, human health does not seem to be as much a priority.
If you do want to purchases a Patagonia product, please call customer service and find out what type of waterproofing is used on the product, which is NOT clearly disclosed even on website descriptions.
So this particular jacket description says that it has a DWR (durable water repellant) finish. Sounds like it will keep you nice and dry, but what they don’t tell you is that DWR waterepellants are made from fluorinated chemicals (think Teflon).
I went to their Durable Water Repellant page . It says, “Patagonia has long relied on a DWR with perfluorinated compound (PFC) but we have been searching diligently for an alternative because of its harmful environmental impacts.” No mention of health effects to their customers.
Then later on the page they say “And for the Fall 2019 season, we are pleased to introduce our first products that use PFC-free chemistries.”
Customer service told me the above statement applies to only a few products, and this jacket in question is NOT one of them. So it has PFC waterproofing.
READ MORE ABOUT PERFLUORINATED CHEMICALS (PFCs) ON ZERO TOXICS KNOWLEDGE BASE.
