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The prize goes for Scandinavian products, but the innovation is entirely Portuguese. The Scandinavian Outdoor Awards distinguished a shirt from the Finnish brand Reima as the most innovative product in the children’s market, for incorporating the SI Repel Mosquito treatment, developed by the Portuguese technology company Smart Innovation.
“It was a complete surprise that we won this award, it is a distinction that fills us with pride”, confesses the Smart Innovation CEO, Mário Brito. The company specialized in nanotechnology has supplied its SI Repel Mosquito to several international brands, and has now seen one of its customers awarded for having used the product in children’s outdoor clothing. The piece was even named Vahti, which in Finnish means “person or thing that protects or looks after something”.
“We work a lot with foreign brands, which we call partner brands, and in this case the customer is a brand of children’s technical clothing. The jersey is of excellent quality, but the innovation factor is in the finish, which we supply, and that protects against mosquitoes, ticks and other insects”, explains the head of the Portuguese company.
SI Repel Mosquito consists of a long-lasting treatment – withstands more than 100 washes – which is repellent, but not toxic, making it especially suitable for children’s clothing. In 2016, Smart Inovation’s technology had helped the Portuguese brand Zippy win the APED Excellence Award in the Retail Innovation category.