LONDON: Versarien plc, the advanced materials engineering group, has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with the company’s textile sector collaboration partner covering the initial launch of high performance sportswear incorporating Versarien’s graphene ink technology.
The partner, who has a collaboration agreement with the company, as announced on 8 January 2018, is headquartered in Asia and designs, develops and manufactures a range of different garments for well-known apparel brands globally.
The LOI follows successful independent tests carried out in the UK involving the incorporation of graphene into textiles via fabric finishes using Versarien’s graphene ink technology developed by the company’s subsidiary, Cambridge Graphene Limited.
The testing has demonstrated that the incorporation of Versarien’s graphene inks into the textiles provides a number of potential benefits to a user of garments made from them, including enhanced thermal and moisture properties.
The non-binding LOI sets out the intent of the parties to enter into a formal commercial relationship regarding an initial launch of high performance sportswear. The LOI also commits both parties to further product development across different textiles and graphene delivery methods.
Further wearer trials are now underway with a number of well known global sports brands, along with other Partner customers.
Neill Ricketts, CEO of Versarien, commented: “We are delighted that this collaboration has moved to the next stage with the signing of the LOI. This was the first major collaboration we entered into for our graphene ink technology.
“The independent testing that has been carried out has demonstrated a number of significant benefits that the addition of our graphene can bring and we are confident that the further wearer trials will validate this. We look forward to continuing to work with this Partner with the goal of introducing graphene enhanced high performance sportswear to the market as soon as possible.”