Enzymatic Catalyst Market Entry Strategy: Information Asymmetry's Role in Global Polyester Synthesis Manufacturing

Polyester accounts for 59% of global textile fiber production. Despite safer, enzymatic alternatives, firms still synthesize polyester with suspected carcinogenic antimony catalysts. Proxy analysis of Google Trends data reveals that the barrier to adoption is informational, not only economic. Data were retrieved in two batches for three textile search terms (“toxic textiles,” “clothing heavy metals,” “heavy metals clothing”) and representative terms from three analog markets: organic food, BPA-free plastics, and clean beauty. The series were rescaled onto a common index anchored on “BPA plastics,” which appeared in both batches (Pearson r = 0.999; Spearman ρ = 0.992). Analog terms cleared the 15/100 measurability threshold and grew in 40–95% of observed years, whereas no textile term reached the threshold, consistent with unawareness rather than indifference. Polyester is a label credence good, unverifiable even in use. Consumers therefore cannot demand safer alternatives while unaware of the antimony risk and the enzymatic option. All three analog markets resolved comparable asymmetries through a disclosure event; entry should therefore be designed to trigger disclosure.