Those ‘forever chemicals’ on our furniture don’t actually prevent stains

By Elissaveta M. Brandon | Fast Company | April 6, 2023

Read the full article by Elissaveta M. Brandon (Fast Company)

"When it comes to furniture, so-called forever chemicals have one job to do: repel oil and water to make textiles more stain-resistant. But a new study finds that on top of the already established adverse health effects these chemicals have been known to cause, they can’t even do that one job properly.

The peer-reviewed study published in the AATCC Journal of Research compared how six fabrics (three treated with forever chemicals, three untreated) performed against two kinds of stains (coffee and oil-based salad dressing). The result? The treated fabrics worked only marginally better at first, and had limited to no effectiveness after just a couple of years.

Forever chemicals, also known as PFAS (for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), have been around for decades and will be around for decades more. That’s because these particular types of human-made chemicals don’t break down naturally, meaning they accumulate in water and soil, polluting the environment; and stack up in our bodies, increasing our risk of cancer, decreasing fertility rates, and more."