Innovation

Van Heusen Stain Shield Launches as First-ever Solution to Oil-Based Stains

Bet we all have our clumsy moments. You spill coffee on your sleeve, drip salad dressing on your shirt – maybe a ketchup or mustard splatter. Our consumers told us they do, too – so the Heritage Brands group set out to solve it.

Van Heusen is excited to bring you the latest product innovation: Stain Shield. Stain Shield is a breakthrough stain-repellent technology that fights both water-based and oil-based stains, the first of its kind. The stain repellent is currently in-store, offered on dress shirts, sport shirts, and ties, with dress pants launching in spring 2021. This treatment is also planned for Calvin Klein dress shirts in 2021 – with more iterations to follow.

“The PVH Consumer Marketplace Insights (CMI) team set out to identify pain points that the consumer was feeling in regards to various product categories. Studies showed that when asked a products’ most important capability, stain-free was ranked the second most important to wrinkle-free. We found out that consumers didn’t just care about style and fashion, but care features and how a product is made was becoming increasingly important to them as well,” said Mike Kelly, Chief Marketing Officer, PVH.

This feedback emphasized the void in the market for a high-functioning product and an opportunity for PVH to fulfill that consumer demand.

As there are existing stain-repellent shirts already on the market, including within the PVH portfolio, the need was to improve the technology on those products and increase their efficacy. PVH found a solution to reformulate the stain repellent-chemistry to not only be high performing, but to have less environmental impact as well. Stain Shield has a softer touch, higher level of breathability, and is longer lasting than other competitors on the market.

We had the opportunity to discuss the launch with David Sirkin, Group President of Heritage Brands. He acknowledged that while it was concepted in the context of an office wardrobe, it’s a product that can fit every setting.

He also noted that this had been in the works for a few years and was “born out of consumer demand.” He added: “They want and need better performance from their products.”

Stain Shield also has applications beyond dress shirts, Sirkin said, noting that it can be applied to other woven products including sport shirts, pants, neckwear and other sportswear categories.