In keeping with its commitment to performance and sustainability, Allied Feather + Down has introduced Expedry quick-drying down featuring Fuze technology.
Available to all Allied partner brands, Expedry is a chemical-free solution that maintains the performance for which down is known, while making care for down products easier, reducing energy consumption and broadening its performance range. Expedry helps reduce dry times while minimizing performance issues in wet weather by applying non-ionic, permanently bonded gold nanoparticles to the down cluster. These particles work to increase the evaporation rate of water at a molecular level, without the need for heat.
This technology differs from current durable water-resistant (DWR) treatments for down, Allied said. The common DWR treatments act as a hydrophobic agent that allows water to bead, keeping the down clusters drier for longer. However, once saturated, DWR treatments have no ability to accelerate drying, according to Allied.
In real-world situations, the increased evaporation rate created by Expedry could actually be of greater benefit than many DWR treatments, the company noted, adding that once saturated through a thorough cleaning, Expedry-treated garments will dry almost twice as fast.
Expedry has been tested to dry 40 to 60 percent faster than untreated down, making it significantly easier and faster to fully dry a jacket in traditional and condenser dryers. It also helps down products air-dry faster between uses in wet environments.
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“This project has been at the top of our priorities and in development for years,” said Daniel Uretsky, president of Los Angeles-based Allied Feather + Down. “Not because it might help someone summit an 8,000-meter peak faster, but because it will make down more accessible to more people.”
Uretsky said the company almost thought the project to be impossible until its partnership with Fuze.
“Using their incredibly knowledgeable and unique approach to innovation and dedication to sustainability, we are finally able to realize our quick-drying product,” he said. “This is a potential game changer for the European market that relies on condenser dryers, which have always made down difficult to care for and dry properly.”
Andrew Peterson, chief technology officer of Fuze Biotech, said working with Allied on long-term sustainability goals and other product developments allowed the company to come across “an interesting new area of study where we find that gold nanoparticles significantly increase the evaporation rate of water.”
“This technology has exciting implications that extend far beyond the apparel industry,” Peterson said.
In long-term exposure in wet climates such as extreme through-hikes and long expeditions, loss of warmth is primarily due to the build up of fungus and the loss of loft due to direct exposure to water. Expedry treated down dries faster, facilitating an evaporation rate greater than the absorption rate, creating a continually dry environment inhospitable to fungus, Allied said.
Fuze is a permanent, chemical-free technology that can be applied to any surface or textile to prevent and protect against harmful pathogens, mold and infectious diseases. Dedicated to sustainability, only a small amount of Fuze is applied during a patented embedding process at either the factory or the consumer level, causing no harmful effects to people or the environment, the company said.