DSM partners with Sympatex to launch Arnitel®

Royal DSM, a global
science-based company active in nutrition, health and sustainable living, today
announces that its DSM Engineering Materials business will launch mass-balanced
bio-based Arnitel®, a thermoplastic elastomer, together with Sympatex
Technologies. In this way, DSM Engineering Materials is taking the next step on
its sustainability journey and enabling its customers to transition to a more
circular and bio-based economy.

To address growing
consumer and legislative demand for lower carbon footprint and more sustainable
feedstock, the sports and apparel value chain is increasingly integrating
bio-based materials into its designs. By offering a new range of mass-balanced
bio-based Arnitel®, DSM Engineering Materials is enabling membrane
manufacturer, Sympatex Technologies to meet these demands and make more
sustainable choices.

DSM’s bio-based Arnitel®
is manufactured with bio-based feedstock using a mass-balance approach[1]. The
end product contains more than 25 per cent bio-based content by weight.

Sympatex uses Arnitel® to
manufacture its waterproof, windproof, and breathable membranes for sports
applications. The transition to bio-based feedstock will maintain the unique
functional properties of Arnitel® and will enable Sympatex to easily shift to a
more sustainable solution with a lower carbon footprint without having to
requalify materials.

Caroline Mittlerlehner, Vice President Specialties DSM
Engineering Materials, said: “Together with our partner Sympatex, we are taking
the next important step on our sustainability journey and driving the
industry’s transition from fossil-based to renewable resources.”

Rüdiger Fox, CEO Sympatex Technologies, added: “We are seeing
that partnerships such as ours with DSM accelerate the progress of our
collective journey to a more sustainable world. Everyone in the value chain is
benefiting, from suppliers to our customers and sports brands.”

Shruti Singhal, President DSM Engineering Materials, said: “I’m very proud
that DSM is helping lead the transition to a circular economy by offering an
increasing range of bio-based alternatives to our portfolio. This builds on our
extensive experience developing sustainable solutions, in line with our purpose
of creating brighter lives for all. And, by working with our partners across
the value chain, we’ll keep driving sustainability in our industry to new
levels and contribute to delivering a better future!”

[1] Mass balance
accounting is a well-known approach that has been designed to trace the flow of
materials through a complex value chain. The mass balance approach provides a
set of rules for how to allocate the bio-based and/or recycled content to
different products to be able to claim and market the content as ‘bio’-based or
‘recycled’-based. Source: Ellen MacArthur Foundation (Mass Balance White
Paper).