Markus Hefter, former exhibition group director of the ISPO Munich and OutDoor by ISPO trade shows, who left ISPO Group earlier this month, will join ingredient brand Polygiene as commercial director for EMEA in September, the Swedish company announced today. In this newly created position, Hefter will be working from the Munich area and report to Haymo Strubel.
Strubel, who joined Polygiene as director commercial operation Europe in 2016, became chief sales officer in 2018 and has been VP commercial operations EMEA since 2020, said that he looks forward to continuing to build and strengthen the Polygiene brand with Hefter in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, as well as extending the brand’s sustainable product benefits to other areas such as lifestyle, denim and workwear.
Polygiene was founded in 2006 and had its IPO in 2016. In 2007, Polygiene began searching for a solution to the odor problem in outdoor sports. In 2012, an initial collaboration with Patagonia in the U.S. marked a breakthrough in the sports and outdoor industry, followed by Polygiene Stays Fresh and Polygiene Odor Crunch technologies, among others, over the next few years. Following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic around the world, Polygiene successfully introduced its ViralOff antiviral treatment technology, which has since been used in numerous textiles such as face masks and clothing. Earlier this year, the Swedes bought U.K.-based company Addmaster, a global supplier of antibacterial additives for hard surfaces.
