"Japan’s revered outdoor brands face down PFAS challenge," 10 March 2024

...chances are that pieces of outdoor clothing you wear are made from or coated with “forever chemicals.”

PFAS have been used for decades due to their unique ability to repel water, oil and stains. But the chemicals, of which there are at least 4,700 types, remain in the environment for years, and some have been linked to cancer.

Now, as regulators worldwide move toward tightening regulations on PFAS, or perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, the fashion industry is facing pressure to change.

While the scale of impact remains hard to predict, it is likely to eventually affect every player in the industry’s supply chain, including apparel brands, textile manufacturers and retailers... especially acute in the outdoor clothing and footwear industry...

Montbell are already taking steps to address the PFAS issue.

Japanese businesses across all industries have been generally slow to respond to pressure to go PFAS-free, partly because it’s so hard to find substitutes and domestic regulations are late in coming...

The Japanese government has so far only banned the use of PFOA and PFOS, which are PFAS subgroups, and it plans to ban PFHxS in June, in accordance with the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, of which it is a signatory...

Across the Pacific, numerous U.S. states are planning to ban the entire class of PFAS used in textiles, following activist campaigns and lawsuits drawing attention to the use of toxic chemicals...

Meanwhile, the European Union is considering a ban covering over 10,000 PFAS compounds as a whole...

Global outdoor clothing brands are addressing the issue, but their approaches and how they publicize their stance vary...

In fact, corporate Japan has made a coordinated effort across sectors to oppose the comprehensive PFAS ban being considered by the European Chemicals Agency... making Japan the No. 2 force against it...