Rovince Clothing – FAQs

 

How can the clothing be insect-resistant?

The clothing is treated with permethrin. The fabric is treated before the clothing is manufactured, as opposed to simply coating finished garments.

Permethrin creates a “hot feet effect”, which ensures that when a tick comes into contact with our clothing, it becomes paralyzed almost immediately and falls off the clothing.

What are the washing instructions?

The cut-off value for the effectiveness of permethrin (200mg) is achieved after 50 to 100 washes (according to lab tests).

However, Rovince in its pure form (not combined with water repellency or other supplements) holds 75-100 washes. In practice, this usually means that the finish will last as long as the garment. Once the garment is this worn, the finish is no longer sufficiently efficient.

One may wash Rovince clothes with other clothes in a colours wash program up to 60 degrees celcius. Softeners and chlorine bleaches are strongly discouraged. Chemical cleaning is not allowed, as the solvents contained will attack the copolymer. Do not tumble dry.

How long will the clothing retain its effect?

Because Rovince don’t simply coat pre-made garments, the clothing remains effective up to at least 80 washes. With socks, this is slightly less due to the fabric and use, up to 60 washes.

Of course, the more worn or damaged the clothing is, the less we can guarantee its effectiveness.

What’s special about how you make Rovince clothing?

Unlike other companies, Rovince don’t use a monomer application of permethrin in the production of their clothing. While a monomer application ensures wash resistance, it prevents a constant availability of the active ingredient permethrin on the surface of the coating.

Monomer applications will indicate the correct amount of permethrin but lack the necessary bioavailability – the permethrin becomes encapsulated, so that the insects are hardly influenced by it and garments coated in this way have little or no effect on ticks.

With Rovince clothing, the active substance permethrin is bound in a co-polymer (mainly acrylate and silicone elastomer (polysiloxanes)). This combination ensures a perfect balance between durability (wash resistance) and bioactivity (the silicone elastomers allow the permethrin to diffuse out gradually and sustainably).

How much permethrin is in Rovince clothing?

After extensive testing, the US Army established 1250 mg/m2 as the ideal amount of permethrin – sufficient to keep the insects away, yet not so high as to cause problems for the wearer. Since the 1980s these levels have become accepted as a worldwide standard. The lower value of 200 mg was also established – once this level is reached, the garment needs to be replaced. It is these universally accepted standards that Rovince meet.

Can pregnant women wear Rovince clothing?

Wearing permethrin-treated clothing by pregnant women is not recommended. While there is no scientific basis for drawing concrete conclusions, we are erring on the side of caution by recommending that pregnant women do not wear permethrin-treated clothing.

What insects does Rovince provide protection from?

Since it is a contact insecticide, permethrin will only work if there is effective direct contact between the insect and permethrin for a certain period of time. The smaller the insect, and the larger (relative) the contact surface between the insect and the active substance permethrin, the greater the effect of the clothing.

Permethrin is therefore excellent against ants, ticks, fleas, lice, mosquitoes, sand flies, in short small insects. Pewrmethrin is insufficiently present in Rovince clothing and is anchored so deeply in the fibres that it has no negative consequences for larger insects such as bees and horseflies. A bee is too big and heavy, and has too few contact points (legs) to be fatally hit. A tick, on the other hand, has a large contact surface, so that the effect is almost immediate/quasi instant.

Will sunlight degrade the effectiveness of Rovince clothing?

No negative influences of UV irradiation have been measured and/or determined which would reduce the efficiency of the Rovince clothing.

Can Rovince clothing be recycled?

Used Rovince clothing is best collected with the household waste for incineration. No toxic compounds are released.

Of course, you can continue to wear your garments once the effectiveness of the permethin has worn off – all our clothing is primarily designed to be practical and comfortable, with or without the added benefit of providing protection from ticks!