Virus Free: Textile Innovation for Greater Safety in Everyday Life

A COVID-19 vaccine is still in the works, but with a textile fabric, you can already keep Corona at bay. The antimicrobial textile Virus Free from the Austrian company sanSirro demonstrably deactivates viruses, fungi, and bacteria, thereby preventing infection. Virus Free can, for example, be worn as gloves, pulled over door handles, or attached to light switches. The versatile textile is suitable for both private use and for equipping kindergartens, schools, public buildings, medical practices, offices, etc. In short, Virus Free makes daily contact with communal surfaces safer again and renders the constant use of disinfectants obsolete – during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fear of touching subway handrails has existed even before COVID-19, but many people now see the light switch in the office or the shopping cart in the supermarket with new eyes due to the pandemic. Hygiene now holds a higher priority in the new normal. Many people will want to avoid potential hotspots for infection as much as possible. Especially on surfaces that are touched frequently, practical solutions have been scarce so far. One such solution is now offered by the Austrian textile manufacturer sanSirro.

Multifunctional Virus Protection

At the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, the originally sportswear-focused company (which supplies, among others, the Austrian football Bundesliga team Wolfsberger AC) started producing mouth-nose masks and subsequently engaged more deeply with the topic of virus protection. "We mainly focused on surfaces that people need to touch," explains Hannes Steiner, managing director of sanSirro. "We first thought of door handles and light switches. Everyone who touches them should be protected." The idea of Virus Free was born: a multifunctional textile that can be easily attached to communal surfaces to prevent infections.

The base technology of Virus Free, further developed in Styria and ISO 20743 certified, comes from the Swiss company HeiQ. Specifically, biocides based on recycled silver salt are embedded into the fabric, deactivating microbes and germs. The antimicrobial effect is already present after a few minutes. Additionally, thanks to nanotechnology, all Virus-Free products are also dirt- and water-repellent. The textiles can be washed up to 30 times at 40 degrees Celsius and leave no residues when surfaces are cleaned.

Flexible and Customizable Use

The Virus-Free line sold via sanSirro's website includes, for example, finger cots (TIPsafe, for safe use of ticket machines), gloves (FEELsafe), as well as coverings for door handles (TOUCHsafe) and shopping cart grips (SHOPsafe). The textiles also enable a variety of other applications, which sanSirro develops upon customer request. "We can respond flexibly and quickly to special requests from our customers," says Hannes Steiner, adding: "We are capable of developing and producing suitable products for any communal surface." The company has two production facilities in Austria and one in Slovenia.

Virus Free is thus interesting not only for private customers but also for companies, businesses, and entire communities. The textiles are suitable, for example, for comprehensive protection of office buildings, kindergartens, schools, medical practices, pharmacies, and shops. An enthusiastic customer and reseller has already been found with one of the largest sporting goods retailers in Germany, Gigasport. Additionally, sanSirro is in negotiations with several supermarket chains and municipalities. Starting from an order of 1,000 units, sanSirro customizes the fabric design according to customer wishes, enabling corporate and sponsor branding. Virus Free thus leaves no aesthetic wishes unfulfilled.