Charlotte-based entrepreneur Jeff Robinson is very concerned about MRSA and other “superbug” bacterial infections, which if you’ve ever gathered up the nerve to Google image search, you should be too.
Robinson and his team are devoted to leveraging technology to make the world safer. Their company is called dReiniger, literally “the cleaner.” Most recently, they have developed InvisiArmor, a textile activator system that uses hydrogen peroxide and a zinc-oxide based formula to treat clothing and provide lasting antimicrobial action against bacteria, viruses, spore-forming organisms, and odor. The treatment lasts for 20 launderings and can be reapplied to continue the effects indefinitely.
“It’s an old-school technology,” Robinson said. “What our technology partners have done is taken a very safe, eco-friendly means of killing dangerous, nasty germs and they have been able to make it residual so now you have ongoing 24/7 protection.”
There are two lines of InvisiArmor on the market right now: Sport and Medical. The Medical lines target the healthcare industry for use mainly on scrubs and lab coats worn by medical personnel.
“You have a one-in-four or one-in-five chance when you go inside a hospital if you’re a patient, of getting some healthcare-associated infection,” Robinson said.
According to the Center for Disease Control there are more than 700,000 HAIs reported every year in US hospitals, and many people die every year from these easily-preventable infections.
“This is the big white elephant in the room,” Robinson said.
On the InvisiArmor site, the team claims uniforms and other high-touch textiles such as room curtains and bed linens can act as fomites – items capable of hosting microorganisms and serving as a reservoir that can contribute to the transmission of dangerous pathogens. Simply laundering the fabrics, according to their research, is not sufficient to kill most infectious viruses and bacteria.
“The medical product is a really hardcore higher concentration to kill dangerous bugs like MRSA and other nasty stuff,” Robinson said. “Who knows what percentage [of HAIs] is caused by transfer of clothing, but clothing is an issue. Our company is about providing residual protection from dangerous germs and providing residual odor control.”
In the testing phase, he and his team took the Medical product to a martial arts competition in Las Vegas and studied the results after a competitor wore his treated uniform for five days straight without laundering it.
The results?
“Fresh as daisies!” Robinson said.
The Sport line protects against bacteria and viruses as well but is at a lower concentration. For this market, the more immediate need is odor control.
“We added a new technology into our Sport product that basically is like a turbo-booster for odor control.”
The keyword in both product lines is “residual,” he said. When you treat a garment with the multi-step InvisiArmor system, the solutions attach to the garment and sequester the hydrogen peroxide onto it to make the germ-fighting properties lasts for 20 launderings.
“We want to raise the standard of clean to protect people,” Robinson said. “We’re all about wanting to provide solutions that protect and help make a safer environment for patients, for healthcare professionals and their families because they take this crap home.
Robinson and two of his seven other team members live and work out of Charlotte. Their technology partners work out of Florida and he has a few other team members in various cities in the U.S.
The textile-rich history of Charlotte and the surrounding area have provided an invaluable resource for Robinson and his team to launch this product, he said.
“Charlotte is absolutely a gem of a city to do this,” he said. “Frankly for what I stumbled into Charlotte is – North Carolina, Charlotte, South Carolina are – it’s just a textile epicenter. From way back, the history is textiles.”
InvisiArmor is currently on the market and more information and research can be found at their website, https://invisiarmor.com.
