I'm not sure what your point is here, I looked at the veilance line and the examples I saw had (probable) PFAS synthetics mixed in with natural fibres, eg:
FRAME SS SHIRT MEN'S
Refined short-sleeve tee in exceptionally soft, breathable fine-gauge Merino wool jersey fabric. $250.00 AUD
(Note the .AU in URL - I get redirected to .AU being in .AU and not using a proxy)
Ultra-fine Merino wool yarns bring naturally soft comfort and are known for odour resistance, temperature regulation, and moisture management. A nylon core adds durability.
The 'nylon' core is likely treated with highly fluorinated PFAS chemicals to make it waterproof.
Merino wool on it's own is lightly water shedding, especially the ultra fine fibres.
It's all new to me to be honest - more than a decade back I worked with locals here to introduce laser grading on their merino wool sorting and feedback into breeding for finer wool grades, living in an agricultural district a great deal of my clothing comes from local looms and tailors - bolts of cloth for grading not mass markets being used by locals to not lose skills - no nylon or synthetic additives.
PFAS are only used on outside (shell) layers in outdoor gear. It would do nothing on a wool t-shirt like that, you need a solid nylon barrier shell, which is then coated to make the surface hydrophobic so the water beads off.
Most consumer merino wool nowadays contains nylon because it makes it more durable- ultra soft merino wears out and develops holes rapidly without adding a small amount of nylon “scaffolding” which adds strength and chafe resistance. When merino socks first hit the market, for example, they would sometimes only last a few days of hiking… nowadays a nylon wool blend sock will last years and years of hard use.
These layers are not designed to be waterproof or hydrophobic- the opposite actually, they are designed to absorb moisture so they are “moisture wicking” keeping the skin dry.
Cheers - I wasn't sure why you raised the veilance line specifically, whether that was an example of PFAS (in the nylon) or not (PFAS free) - the landing pages here in .AU didn't make any specific mention either way and the link you gave got redirected to a country specific (Australia) variation .. so I was literally unsure if we're "on the same page" :)
