Better fabric for the places where care happens.
GradientCollective is developing ActiveGuard™, a reusable textile platform for hospitals, designed to build odor control and antimicrobial performance into the fabric itself. We start with privacy curtains and linens, with a design target of 100+ industrial laundering cycles, to be made in the United States.
Pre-prototype; first fabrication planned for 2027. All performance figures are design targets pending independent testing. Technical details are shared only under NDA.
Built for the people who need it most.
For the patient behind the curtain, the nurse on a double shift and the veteran in a VA bed. Every product decision starts with them and with the hard reality of hospital laundering.
The fabric around the patient is the easiest to overlook.
Hospitals clean hard surfaces constantly, but the textiles surrounding every bed are handled by staff and patients all day. Many antimicrobial fabrics rely on a surface-applied finish, which can lose effectiveness over repeated laundering depending on the treatment and wash conditions. Hospitals launder harder than almost anyone.
Touched constantly, changed rarely
Curtains are handled by every clinician and visitor, yet they hang between changes far longer than bedding does.
Washed hardest of all
Sheets and bedding go through hot industrial laundering again and again, where surface treatments struggle to last.
Replacement adds up
When a textile's performance washes out, hospitals pay for replacement, extra handling or disposable alternatives.
ActiveGuard™: designed in, not coated on.
ActiveGuard is a proposed proprietary textile platform, in development, designed so its performance is part of the material rather than a finish that washes away. We start in the hospital room and expand only as each product is proven.
Privacy curtains and linens
Privacy screens, sheets and bedding designed for durable odor control and antimicrobial performance through repeated industrial laundering.
Scrubs and gowns
The same platform extended to scrubs, patient gowns and staff apparel once hospital-room products are proven.
Surface finish
Applied after the fabric is made. Depending on the treatment and wash conditions, it may lose effectiveness over repeated laundering.
Designed into the material
Performance is designed to be part of the material itself, so it isn't simply washed off.
Conceptual illustration only. Not a depiction of a tested product or of proprietary design details.
From the lab to the hospital room, one proof at a time.
Every stage has to earn the next. We won't put ActiveGuard™ in a hospital, or claim what it can do, until independent testing, a regulated pilot study and EPA review say we can. Later dates are estimates and depend on each earlier step and on funding. The dates shown assume grant funding; earlier investment moves them forward.
Prove the material
First fabrication with university textile research labs: compounding, fiber spinning and material characterization.
Prove the fabric
Independent laboratory testing of odor resistance, antibacterial performance and wash durability on curtain and linen fabrics.
Pilot study
A controlled pilot study with a health-system partner under its own review and approval, with any EPA authorization the study requires, likely an Experimental Use Permit, confirmed with EPA beforehand.
EPA registration
Submit pilot and laboratory data to EPA for registration. Only then can we make public-health claims.
Hospital launch
Privacy curtains and linens for hospitals and VA medical centers, followed by scrubs and patient gowns.
Home bed linens, direct to consumers
While the hospital pilot is under way, we plan to offer ActiveGuard™ bed linens for the home, sold as odor-resistant and durable through repeated washing, with no health claims. It puts our fabric into real daily use, proves we can manufacture at scale, and builds early revenue on the same fabric our hospital linens will use.
We know the obstacles, and we plan for them.
- Our material has not been made yet. Every performance figure is a design target until independent labs test it.
- Testing in a hospital requires the health system's review and approval, and likely an EPA Experimental Use Permit. We will confirm the requirements with EPA before the study begins.
- Before registration, any claim is limited to protecting the fabric itself, under EPA rules for treated articles. Claims about protecting people require EPA registration, which can take years.
- Home linens will be sold only as odor-resistant. Health claims wait for EPA registration, in every channel.
- Each stage needs funding. We are pursuing federal research grants first and will move only as fast as the evidence allows.
A federal research path, with benchmarks at every gate.
We are preparing an NIH Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I application with a university research partner. Nothing has been awarded. If Phase I is funded and its benchmarks are met, it sets up a Phase II application to carry ActiveGuard™ toward the pilot study and EPA review.
STTR Phase I: feasibility
The university partner performs a defined share of the research alongside us. Phase I asks one question: can this material be made, and does it perform?
- Produce the material and spin it into usable fiber
- Fiber strength within design targets
- Antibacterial and odor performance in independent laboratory tests (AATCC TM100 for antibacterial activity)
- Antibacterial performance tested before and after 100 industrial laundering cycles, using a validated laundering protocol selected with our research partner
STTR Phase II: development
Phase II funding depends on Phase I results. We would apply only if the benchmarks are met.
- Pilot-scale production of curtain and linen fabric
- The laboratory data package EPA requires
- Regulatory consultation with EPA and preparation for the hospital pilot study
We resubmit, stronger
Most NIH applications are not funded the first time. If ours isn't, we will use reviewer feedback and new preliminary data to resubmit, and pursue other federal research programs in parallel. The roadmap moves with the evidence, not ahead of it.
Healthcare first, starting with federal hospitals.
Hospitals buy curtains and linens on recurring cycles, value durability, and increasingly look for domestic sourcing. VA medical centers add SDVOSB set-aside eligibility, which makes them a natural first customer.
How we reach the market
- Home bed linens, direct to consumers: odor-resistant, early revenue
- Privacy curtains and linens for VA medical centers and hospital systems
- Scrubs, patient gowns and clinical apparel
- Broader hospital systems as clinical evidence builds
Advantages that reinforce each other
- SDVOSB certification for VA set-aside eligibility (38 U.S.C. § 8127)
- All-U.S. supply chain mapped from fiber to finished fabric, with candidate partners identified at each stage, supporting federal domestic-sourcing preferences
- Being developed for industrial laundering, where surface finishes can fall short
- Capital-light model: proprietary know-how, U.S. manufacturing partners
The founding team.
Miguel Angel Perez
Leads strategy, development and federal compliance. U.S. Navy submarine veteran (USS Virginia, SSN-774) and service-disabled veteran owner.
James Francis Bonnanzio
Leads finance, legal and corporate governance, with experience in federal program, budget and contract-management environments.
Colin Patrick Dunn
Leads market development and commercial strategy, with direct healthcare institutional experience.
An early entry into durable, domestic, defensible textiles.
We're opening conversations with mission-aligned investors and strategic partners who understand advanced materials, hospital operations or healthcare supply chains.
Pre-prototype, de-risking now
Pursuing non-dilutive federal R&D funding, including an NIH STTR Phase I application, and in discussions with university research partners for first fabrication.
Earlier investment, earlier timeline
On the grant path, work waits on NIH: an application submitted in January typically can't start before mid-year, and a resubmission adds most of another year. Investment now would let fabrication and testing begin immediately, moving the early milestones forward by an estimated six to twelve months and every later stage with them. EPA review periods are fixed; the time spent waiting on funding is not.
Stage-honest by design
Every figure on this page is a design target until independently tested. Our silver-based actives are not designed to be sporicidal, and C. difficile is outside the platform's scope. No health claims will be made before EPA registration.
What each stage costs, and what it proves
| Stage | Estimated capital | Milestones it funds |
|---|---|---|
| 1 · Prove the material | About $50,000 | First material produced, spun into fiber and measured for strength and consistency |
| 2 · Prove the fabric | $100,000–$150,000 | Independent antibacterial, odor and wash-durability testing; curtain and linen fabric; domestic pilot production run |
| 3 · Pilot and registration | Preliminary allowance of $125,000–$325,000 for EPA work; pilot study budgeted with partners | Regulatory data package and EPA registration; the hospital pilot study is scoped and costed with the health-system partner |
Preliminary planning estimates as of October 2026, not established budgets. Actual costs depend on the studies EPA requires and may be higher, and they will be refined with university, manufacturing and regulatory partners. Valuation, terms and technical details are in the investor brief.
Let's talk.
For investors, health systems, VA and federal buyers, and research collaborators. Full technical disclosure is available under an executed NDA.
Send an inquiry.
Investors, health systems, VA and federal buyers, research collaborators and manufacturing partners: tell us who you are and what you are looking for, and we will reply by email.