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Giulio Cesareo
Giulio Cesareo
CEO & Founder

Interview with Giulio Cesareo

We plan to expand to professional sport sector to consolidate our brand

UK-based Directa Plus is one of the largest producers and suppliers worldwide of graphene-based products for use in consumer and industrial markets. The company's products are natural, chemical-free and produced sustainably. Commercial applications of the products include smart textiles, tyres, composite materials and environmental solutions. Chief executive officer and founder Giulio Cesareo chats about the thermally-conductive applications of graphene nanoplatelets and the potential they hold across different product categories.

TT: Is graphite easily available for your production requirements? How much is the requirement per month or per annum?

Yes, for the moment graphite availability is not a problem. Directa has different sources of the specific quality needed for its production. The requirement is not entirely predictable today, but we foresee it in the range of several thousand metric tonnes per year.

 
TT: How would you describe the market for graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) in textiles? What is the size of this market?

The market for GNPs in textiles is still small but with high potential due to the versatility of graphene and the different properties it can bring to fabrics. Applications in the textile industry include electrical and thermal conductivity, bacteriostatic properties and flame inhibiting traits. Directa Plus, a pioneer in developing and promoting G+ GNPs in textiles has been working with a small number of carefully selected partner companies to implement the technology in different parts of the market, focusing from the very beginning on safety, sustainability and on matching existing product demand. There are no consistent data on the market size yet.


How would you describe the market for graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) in textiles? What is the size of this market?
TT: How would you describe the market for graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) in textiles? What is the size of this market?

The market for GNPs in textiles is still small but with high potential due to the versatility of graphene and the different properties it can bring to fabrics. Applications in the textile industry include electrical and thermal conductivity, bacteriostatic properties and flame inhibiting traits. Directa Plus, a pioneer in developing and promoting G+ GNPs in textiles has been working with a small number of carefully selected partner companies to implement the technology in different parts of the market, focusing from the very beginning on safety, sustainability and on matching existing product demand. There are no consistent data on the market size yet.

TT: You had an agreement with Arvind last year to develop graphene products for India. Have you started selling your G+ range of denimwear in India? If yes, what is the initial response?

The agreement with Arvind is ongoing as well as several collaborations with other Asian and different international brands. The marketing of G+ enhanced denim fabrics is done by Arvind; Directa is only supporting as needed. However, it takes time from the industrial development of a technology to the availability in the market, usually up to three years. There are no G+-enhanced jeans in the shops in India yet but we hope to see this happening soon.


You had an agreement with Arvind last year to develop graphene products for India. Have you started selling your G+ range of denimwear in India? If yes, what is the initial response?
TT: What are the projects related to sustainability you are currently working on and have already worked in the past?

Sustainability has always been a priority for Directa from the selection of the raw materials, to the proprietary and patented production technology, to the products' end use. We do not use chemistry in our production process, and we have a conversion rate of raw materials in finished products close to 100 per cent. The final products incorporating our G+ technology last longer (as the bicycle and car tires or the roads), are safer (by substituting toxic or unsafe materials) or remove pollution from the environment (such as our Grafysorber). 

Directa Plus developed a specific material for removing organic pollutants, hydrocarbons, from water and soil. This product is called Grafysorber and is graphene multilayer in a 3D structure. It is a 'super sponge', and can adsorb up to 100 times its weight, while releasing the oil adsorbed at the end by simple squeezing. Directa Plus is now able to offer a complete engineering and decontamination process to its customers as well as tailored materials for oil spill prevention. Using G+ GNPs means using less and obtaining more. We constantly monitor and improve our environmental footprint, together with our business partners which share the same company values as ours.

TT: Which are your major sectoral markets for G+ printed fabrics and G+ membranes?

At present, the major markets for G+ printed fabrics are sportswear and workwear, while for G+ membranes, they are sportswear, citywear and luxurywear.

TT: What are the main growth drivers of this industry?

The main growth drivers of the graphene industry are: being able to produce the graphene materials in a consistent and competitive way in terms of volumes and price; being able to understand and match market demand; collaboration with different players in the value chain to develop and offer the right graphene materials for each specific application and reduce the time to market; being able to scale-up the technology at the proper time; being able to communicate the benefits of using this technology to the end users; and having more and more brands starting to implement the technology, allowing end-users to experience the benefits of graphene-enhanced products.

TT: What are the environmental implications of using GNPs?

If we speak about Directa's G+ GNPs, we have analysed together with independent laboratories and proved that our materials are safe for the environment and humans.

TT: How big is your research and development (R&D) team? What is the annual budget allocated towards it?

One-third of our employees is working in the R&D team and we invest about 40 per cent of our budget in research. In fact we are highly committed to developing new applications and new solutions for our materials. We created the ADA as large as the actual production area at our site in Italy just to work side by side with our partners and develop new applications with Graphene Plus.

In this way, we put together the partners' knowledge of their specific product and market with our expertise in the graphene field, thereby generating significant new added value.


How big is your research and development (R&D) team? What is the annual budget allocated towards it?
TT: What kinds of conductive and smart textiles are GNPs being used for? Where do you see the applications growing?

Currently G+ GNPs are used mainly for thermally-conductive applications in sportswear, workwear and city wear. The scope is to improve the thermal comfort of the user in different climatic conditions, via heat dissipation in hot climates, and by evening out heat distribution and homogenisation in cold ones. In workwear, the user will benefit from this technology and focus on his activity without being affected by the discomfort generated by high or low temperature. Electrical conductivity is still under development but could lead to a new generation of smart textiles (i.e. with data transmission for wearables: graphene would allow lighter garments that are easier and safer to wash if compared to metallic wires), not only in the apparel industry but also in home furniture textiles and in automotives. Since the market is still very small, all these applications have the potential to grow significantly.


What kinds of conductive and smart textiles are GNPs being used for? Where do you see the applications growing?
TT: What are the main challenges of working with GNPs in textiles? How are you overcoming these?

The main challenges are related to the need of using the right GNP morphology and the proper percentage of nanoplatelets for the right application at a competitive cost. Directa is working to understand market demand, applying state-of-the-art technology and identifying where GNPs can be applied to give maximum benefit to the industry at a reasonable cost. This is part of why Directa invested in producing and certifying its G+ materials as non-toxic and non-cytotoxic, safe for the environment. Directa has also a dedicated advanced development area (ADA), where chemical, physical and textile engineers are collaborating to develop and test the different applications. This is part of the service the company is offering to its customers and business partners.

TT: What latest innovations are you working on (in the textile domain)?

Our focus this moment is on developing a technology to transfer an electrical signal exploiting the electrical conductivity properties of graphene. This would open a lot of opportunities in the smart textile domain: graphene is more convenient for metallic wires as it is lighter, safer and easier to maintain.

TT: Please share details of the last two fiscals and the expectations for the next two.

Our total revenue was approximately €1 million in 2017, of which €0.77 million came from the textile industry, and in 2018, it was nearly €2.3 million, of which €1.7 million came from the textile industry.  In term of growth, we expect to maintain a strong double-digit growth over the next years.

TT: What is next in pipeline? What are the future plans?

We believe graphene has great potential in the textile market. Our next steps will be expanding our sales in graphene workwear solutions globally and moving to the professional sport sector to consolidate our brand and to get a significant return in sales. (HO)

Published on: 09/09/2019

DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of technicaltextile.net.


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