In 2008 Beau Wangtrakuldee, then a doctoral student studying chemistry at Northern Illinois University, was working alone in the lab on a Friday night when she spilled a small flood of chemicals. They burned through her protective lab coat and her jeans within seconds, scalding her leg. She quickly stripped off her clothes, avoiding a severe burn, and realized that the personal protective equipment (PPE) she was wearing—that is, a common lab coat—wasn’t protective at all.
PPE is an $80 billion market globally. But when Wangtrakuldee tried to track down a better lab coat, she found that it was difficult to locate more resilient PPE, and virtually none of it was made with women in mind. “PPEs back then were almost exclusively designed for tall Caucasian males, even though 80 to 90% of the jobs in health care are held by women,” she says.
Wangtrakuldee saw a market opportunity. After taking an entrepreneurship class at the University of Pennsylvania, she crowdfunded startup money and in 2018 launched protective apparel company AmorSui. She teamed up with a group of female scientists and designers to create technically advanced protective apparel that is antimicrobial, chemical-resistant, fire-resistant—and properly sized for women. She even created the first fire-resistant hijab. Her woman-friendly company also named all the items in its collection after renowned female scientists and manufactured them in woman-owned factories.
When the pandemic hit, demand for protective gowns, gloves, and face masks skyrocketed—as did the tons of waste from these single-use products. Wangtrakuldee was determined to make AmorSui’s line washable and recyclable. “I made a choice to care for the planet we live on,” she says. AmorSui’s medical gowns and lab jackets are reusable for 100 washes, and the company offers an app to help clinics and hospitals track their use.
Wangtrakuldee believes change is coming in the health care industry, with hospitals increasingly purchasing products that are better quality and sustainable, and so AmorSui is signing up partners that can do textile and plastic recycling. “I want us to be a one-stop shop for recyclable and reusable medical supplies,” she said.
This story is part of Quartz’s Innovators List 2023, a series that spotlights the people deploying bold technologies and reimagining the way we do business for good across the globe. Find the full list here.
