A textile finishing technology used to produce clothing that keeps the wearer cooler under sunny conditions could be in line for one of Europe’s top design prizes.

Coldblack, co-developed in Switzerland by speciality chemicals company Clariant and textile technology specialist Schoeller Technologies, has been nominated for the German Design Prize (Designpreis Deutschland) 2011.

Coldblack technology, which the inventors claim provides efficient heat management as well as protection from UV rays and has a major effect in reducing perspiration when hot, was launched two years ago and has already picked up numerous awards, including Popular Science’s Best of What’s New Award in the USA and the Design Preis Switzerland.

“The technology has caused a furore,” says Clariant’s Matthias Kuhnert, Marketing Manager Apparel & Interior Textile Chemicals.

“coldblack is an almost invisible but enormously advantageous piece of design work that has far-reaching practical relevance in clothing for sports, workwear and other areas where it is critical for people to keep comfortable in hot conditions.”

According to the inventors, coldblack technology reflects heat rays and absorbs ultraviolet (UV) radiation for any kind of colour. Said to be particularly effective when used in dark fabrics, it is increasingly used for clothing for running and cycling sports, for golf, tennis, baseball and motorcycling as well as for fashion and functional clothing. In addition coldblack is said to be ideal for textiles for outdoor use such as sun blinds or covers for garden furniture.

 Normally black textiles without coldblack absorb a large proportion of heat rays and heat up accordingly. Textiles with coldblack are said to reflect up to 80% of the heat rays and therefore stay noticeably cooler. Tests with a sweating torso at EMPA in St. Gallen are said to have shown that a person wearing clothes incorporating coldblack technology can have a skin temperature around 5°C lower and perspire about half as much as someone wearing untreated dark clothing.

“The German Design Prize is the highest official German award in the area of design. A company can only take part in the competition for the design prize when its products have already received national or international awards. A further prerequisite for participation is nomination through the Departments of Trade and Industry of the federal states or through the Federal Ministry for Business and Technology,” Clariant says.

“It is an almost seamless extension to the Swiss equivalent, which we won in November 2009. However, as a Swiss company we did not anticipate this nomination,” says Hans U. Kohn from Schoeller Technologies.

The winner of the award will be announced at the end of the year. Among the prize winners in recent years have been light designer Ingo Maurer, car companies Audi and BMW, and Brad Pitt’s “Pink Project” for the reconstruction of New Orleans.