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IFAI announces new Textile Career Center
September 19, 2018
The Industrial Fabrics Association International (IFAI) has announced a new online career resource: the Textile Career Center. This new initiative will offer IFAI members, and the industry at large, an easy-to-use and highly targeted resource for online employment connections. For job seekers, the Textile Career Center will serve as a tool to find and apply …
Industry News
U.S. Military working on more unity among uniforms
September 18, 2018
In a recent article, Bloomberg reports that the U.S. Military will work to unify its uniforms as more of the branches of the Military work together. All have dress uniforms, as well as a wide gamut to fit the needs of warfighters in mountain, woodland and desert climates. Air Force Major General Robert LaBrutta is …
EcoNote
TAF launches sustainability campaign
September 17, 2018
Thai Acrylic Fibre Co. Ltd. (TAF) has launched a campaign positioning Radianza™ fiber as an eco-friendly and sustainable product for the textile and apparel industry. Called “Nature Thanks Back,” the campaign defines how this fiber helps to reduce the negative impacts on the environment by allowing minimum discharge of harmful chemicals, as well as conserving …
Industry News
APV adds antimicrobial technology to VYNGUARD® finishes
September 13, 2018
APV Engineered Coatings has announced it will showcase VYNGUARD® performance finishes, featuring the addition of a new antimicrobial technology, at the Industrial Fabrics Association International (IFAI) Expo, October 16–18, 2018, in Dallas, Texas. The company reports that the new VYNGUARD AM antimicrobial chemistry may be incorporated into lacquer or top finish technologies. VYNGUARD Polycarbonate Anti-Microbial Topcoat is …
What's New?
Wūru Wool brings blister prevention secrets to the U.S.
September 12, 2018
Outdoor and endurance athletes may appreciate the blister-preventative properties of loose lanolin-rich wool, to be available this fall from New Zealand by Salt Lake City based brand, Wūru Wool. While New Zealanders have used loose wool for decades to reduce soreness, minimize blisters, regulate temperature, and keep feet dry, Wuru says that it’s the first …
Industry News
IFAI Expo 2018 offers a range of advanced textiles options
September 10, 2018
This year’s IFAI Expo 2018 in Dallas, Texas, is designed to make its variety of opportunities even more accessible for all participants. The event begins Monday, Oct. 15 with a Pre-Expo Conference, including 24 sessions dedicated to the advanced textiles field. Forty presenters representing industry and academia will cover topics on aerospace, medical, safety and …
Industry News
Protective Textiles online channel available from WTiN
September 10, 2018
Textiles knowledge provider World Textile Information Network (WTiN) announces that it has expanded its intelligence services with Protective Textiles, a new online channel offering reports on intelligence about textiles designed to protect against hazards including heat, cold, chemicals, physical injury and biological organisms. The platform, at www.wtin.com, will provide access to information about technological developments …
EcoNote
DHS awards $199K for development of energy harvesting fabric
September 10, 2018
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) has awarded $199,260 to Boston-based Protect the Force Inc. for the development of photovoltaic (PV) energy harvesting fabrics that will be able to produce and store electricity within the fabric’s weave to power portable devices. The company received its award for a project titled …
What's New?
Unique SAF needlefelt nonwoven now available
September 10, 2018
Technical Absorbents has announced the launch of a new superabsorbent fabric. The patent-pending 100 percent SAF needlefelt nonwoven is now commercially available, according to the manufacturer. Superabsorbent SAF™ needlefelt fabrics latest development is “truly unique,” the company says, containing only SAF and no other synthetic, natural or binder fibers. The company expects it to “open …
My Take
How can a textile be protective?
September 10, 2018
For the uninitiated, the idea that fabric can be “protective” may seem like an oxymoron. We know, however, that protective textiles of many kinds play crucial roles in a range of applications. But that’s hardly news to you. What may be news is the growth of the safety and protective textiles market: strong, steady and …
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Understanding the protective textiles market
September 10, 2018
Participants can benefit from strong growth predictions when armed with solid information. The protective textiles sector is expected to grow at an annual rate of 4 percent, according to a recent report by Leeds, U.K.-based WTiN Intelligence Service. Earlier estimates by other market survey agencies, such as Grand View Research, estimated the annual growth rate …
Featured
What textiles could become
August 20, 2018
Three industry leaders talk about innovation in the textile industry and how early adopters impact the development of new technologies and products. IoClothes describes itself as “A Community Fusing Tech & TextilesTM” that exists to support those who innovate by providing information and helping them to establish the right connections to move forward. Managing director …
Featured
Tackling wrinkling in advanced textile composites
August 6, 2018
New research shows breakthroughs in solving a persistent challenge in textile composite manufacturing. The birth of the modern composites industry dates back to the introduction of high performance continuous fibers, including aramid and carbon, in the 1960s. Over the years, the increasing availability of such fibers has allowed the rapid development of a range of …
Featured
Tomorrow’s composites
July 23, 2018
The ability to incorporate new materials into composites could open up another world of possibilities. In material science, strength alone is often found to have its limitations so that a combination of hard and soft, rigid and flexible is an area of increasing interest for a wide range of applications from building, to sports equipment, …
Featured
The world of composites
July 9, 2018
Fiber-based composite development sparks special interest. Composites is a high-growth industry and, according to two major market intelligence groups, will reach more than $100 billion by 2022. Paris-based JEC Composites has estimated that this sector grew from $75 billion to $82 billion in one year during 2015-16 and will reach a value of $103 billion …
Featured
Textile-based robots
June 25, 2018
Harvard researchers collaborate in developing soft, wearable robotics for hands. Soft, wearable robotics is an emerging field which looks at methods of enabling functional, powered support to assist human movements using lightweight, low-profile and flexible materials such as textiles. A diverse team of researchers in the Harvard Biodesign Lab at the Wyss Institute for Biologically …
Featured
Rethinking robotics
June 11, 2018
Soft robotics and exoskeletons offer human-centric solutions. On March 19, 2018, the New York Times ran a headline that said, “Self-Driving Uber Car Kills Pedestrian in Arizona, Where Robots Roam.” Although the science of robotics has made impressive strides, robots are having something of a crisis of identity. For more than a century science fiction …
Featured
The smart clothes future
May 21, 2018
LOOMIA’s technology launches in major menswear line this fall. While wrist-worn mini-computers are now commonplace, a New York, N.Y.-based company is investing in a different wearables future, where technology is woven directly into clothes. LOOMIA designs and manufactures soft, flexible circuitry that can heat, light, sense and track data, while integrating—seamlessly—into soft goods with its …
Featured
Understanding implantable textiles
May 21, 2018
How textile-based biomaterials and medical devices support human body repair. Textile-based biomaterials or biotextiles have the longest history in the field of biomaterials. In ancient China and Egypt as far back as 2000 B.C., natural fibers such as linen, silk, bark, horsehair and dried guts were used as suture materials for wound closure. The introduction of …
Featured
New directions in nonwovens
May 7, 2018
Commercializing innovations and sustainability issues highlighted at recent conference. The nonwovens sector has diversified from being a single-use product industry to an advanced fibrous materials industry. This shift has been underscored by the possible adoption of a new definition for nonwovens: engineered fibrous assembly, based on balloting at the International Organization for Standardization. Regardless of …
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Industry News
IFAI announces new Textile Career Center
September 19, 2018
The Industrial Fabrics Association International (IFAI) has announced a new online career resource: the Textile Career Center. This new initiative will offer IFAI members, and the industry at large, an easy-to-use and highly targeted resource for online employment connections. For job seekers, the Textile Career Center will serve as a tool to find and apply …
Industry News
U.S. Military working on more unity among uniforms
September 18, 2018
In a recent article, Bloomberg reports that the U.S. Military will work to unify its uniforms as more of the branches of the Military work together. All have dress uniforms, as well as a wide gamut to fit the needs of warfighters in mountain, woodland and desert climates. Air Force Major General Robert LaBrutta is …
Industry News
APV adds antimicrobial technology to VYNGUARD® finishes
September 13, 2018
APV Engineered Coatings has announced it will showcase VYNGUARD® performance finishes, featuring the addition of a new antimicrobial technology, at the Industrial Fabrics Association International (IFAI) Expo, October 16–18, 2018, in Dallas, Texas. The company reports that the new VYNGUARD AM antimicrobial chemistry may be incorporated into lacquer or top finish technologies. VYNGUARD Polycarbonate Anti-Microbial Topcoat is …
Industry News
IFAI Expo 2018 offers a range of advanced textiles options
September 10, 2018
This year’s IFAI Expo 2018 in Dallas, Texas, is designed to make its variety of opportunities even more accessible for all participants. The event begins Monday, Oct. 15 with a Pre-Expo Conference, including 24 sessions dedicated to the advanced textiles field. Forty presenters representing industry and academia will cover topics on aerospace, medical, safety and …
Industry News
Protective Textiles online channel available from WTiN
September 10, 2018
Textiles knowledge provider World Textile Information Network (WTiN) announces that it has expanded its intelligence services with Protective Textiles, a new online channel offering reports on intelligence about textiles designed to protect against hazards including heat, cold, chemicals, physical injury and biological organisms. The platform, at www.wtin.com, will provide access to information about technological developments …
Industry News
U.S. Army tests Kraig Labs ballistic panels
September 7, 2018
Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, a developer of spider silk–based fibers, has delivered ballistic shootpack panels to the U.S. Army, Innovation in Textiles reports. The panels to be evaluated for effectiveness in stopping bullets are made with Kraig Labs’ Dragon Silk, a genetically engineered spider silk that mimics the strength of natural spider silk and is produced by …
Industry News
Mentor Meetings at IFAI Expo
September 6, 2018
Need confidential advice? IFAI is now offering a fully endorsed mentorship program at IFAI Expo 2018. Professional consultations are available by appointment during show floor hours. Book a 30-minute meeting with an impressive lineup of industry experts! This opportunity is open to all attendees and exhibitors and free with any registration type. Why Seek Mentorship? Mentors become trusted advisers …
Industry News
New focus for cotton: mission-linked research
August 29, 2018
Mission-linked research encompassing basic and applied research to promote the advantages of cotton and bring new opportunities for cotton will be the next phase for research in the cotton sector. The new effort will bring expertise from different scientific fields, such as genomics, molecular biology, chemical engineering and textile science, to work on strategic projects …
Industry News
IPC E-Textiles Committee releases e-textiles washability white paper
August 28, 2018
IPC’s D-70 E-Textiles Committee has released IPC WP-024, IPC White Paper on Reliability and Washability of Smart Textile Structures – Readiness for the Market. This white paper provides insights from a team of researchers on e-textiles washability testing parameters and initial results from those tests. It’s expected to be the first in a series of …
Industry News
Superflex rebrands as Seismic Powered Clothing
August 27, 2018
As part of an evolution of its powered clothing platform, the company known as Superflex has rebranded as Seismic and has acquired the intellectual property (IP) of Lumo Bodytech, a motion science offering posture-correcting and fitness devices. Lumo’s products include the Lumo Lift Posture Coach and Lumo Run Running Coach, both designed to track body …
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Out There
Printing 3D sand: strength and design freedom in concrete
August 20, 2018
Researchers in Switzerland have fabricated a lightweight 80-square-meter concrete slab ceiling that uses 3D sand printing for its formwork. The ceiling consists of 11 segments of Smart Slab, which is 20 millimeters at its thinnest point and is reported to be less than half the weight of a conventional concrete ceiling, although even at half …
Out There
Giant space blanket serves a communal purpose
August 6, 2018
Moscow-based designer Alex Shtanuk will be contributing a piece of space travel nostalgia to the 2018 Burning Man gathering later this summer in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, while giving festival attendees a place to escape the desert heat. A giant “space blanket” will provide a casual place for festival goers to find a …
Out There
Functioning QR codes are woven into a jacket
July 23, 2018
Artist Julie Helles Ericksen has created a jacket with QR codes woven into it that can access digital information as the wearer shares it. According to Ericksen, “We communicate to others through what we wear, what we post on social media and what we choose to hide. We curate ourselves to present different versions.” Ericksen …
Out There
Wearable controller tracks hand and finger gestures
July 10, 2018
A hand-wearable device called Kai enables the wearer to control any digital device by tracking hand and finger gestures. Human augmentation start-up Vicara has created the device, a smart band that fits over the hand, that’s meant to increase productivity. Kai features gesture-based computer interaction technology that is compatible with any bluetooth-enabled device, including laptops, …
Out There
Facial recognition technology used in adidas display
June 25, 2018
Adidas has commissioned designer Behnaz Farahi to create a display case with the ability to “read” facial expressions and respond to them. According to the designer, the emotive display called “Mesolite” was designed to showcase an adidas concept shoe. The name is a reference to Mesolite crystals, which it closely resembles in its appearance. The project is …
Out There
Textile art pays homage
June 19, 2018
Textile artist Tamara Kostianovsky’s latest creations, a series called Tree Stumps, uses strips of fabric gleaned from her late father’s clothing. The intricately layered detailed forms are an allusion to her father’s body returning to the environment after his passing. Kostianovsky was inspired by Andean people who believe that Mother Earth is embodied in the surrounding …
Out There
Fabric has user-controlled color and pattern function
June 11, 2018
The College of Optics and Photonics (CREOL) at the University of Central Florida (UCF) announces that it has produced a fabric that allows the user to change the color or pattern of the fabric via smartphone. According to the university, CREOL’s ChroMorphous technology can be applied to large, woven fabrics and cut-and-sewn textile products. Each …
Out There
Snake skins used in tribology study at Drexel University
June 11, 2018
A Drexel University professor is studying snakes and their skins to better understand traction and to help engineers improve the design of textured surfaces such as engine cylinder liners, prosthetic joints and even footwear. Hisham Abdel-Aal, Ph.D, an associate teaching professor in Drexel University’s College of Engineering, believes that snakes offer an excellent means to study …
Out There
Paradiddle: a 3D-printed drumming prosthesis
June 6, 2018
An open-source 3D-printed upper-extremity prosthesis gives drummers who have lost a hand or arm a new way to play. Working with renowned drummer Greg Anton, who lost his left hand, “Paradiddle” designer Dominic Siguang Ma developed unique features that allow the drummer to play intuitively and comfortably. One of Siguang Ma’s main challenges was to design a mechanism that can …
Out There
Fabric sculpture purifies the air
May 7, 2018
A giant, air-purifying sculpture is not just art; it has the ability to absorb emissions from 90,000 cars per year, its creators say. “Breath/ng” by Kengo Kuma, initially on display during Milan’s 2018 Design Week, is composed of 120 hand-folded panels inspired by Japanese origami and made of an innovative fabric called The Breath®. Italian …
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What's New?
Wūru Wool brings blister prevention secrets to the U.S.
September 12, 2018
Outdoor and endurance athletes may appreciate the blister-preventative properties of loose lanolin-rich wool, to be available this fall from New Zealand by Salt Lake City based brand, Wūru Wool. While New Zealanders have used loose wool for decades to reduce soreness, minimize blisters, regulate temperature, and keep feet dry, Wuru says that it’s the first …
What's New?
Unique SAF needlefelt nonwoven now available
September 10, 2018
Technical Absorbents has announced the launch of a new superabsorbent fabric. The patent-pending 100 percent SAF needlefelt nonwoven is now commercially available, according to the manufacturer. Superabsorbent SAF™ needlefelt fabrics latest development is “truly unique,” the company says, containing only SAF and no other synthetic, natural or binder fibers. The company expects it to “open …
What's New?
Carbon nanotubes collect real-world data
September 6, 2018
A team of engineers at the University of Delaware (UD) is developing next-generation smart textiles by creating flexible carbon nanotube composite coatings on a wide range of fibers, including cotton, nylon and wool, an article in Printed Electronics World reports. Their work is documented in ACS Sensors and demonstrates that the sensors have the ability …
What's New?
SensationWool Sock for pain relief is introduced
September 5, 2018
A recent release announced the introduction of Kentwool’s Sensationwool Sock, a therapeutic sock designed for the relief of foot pain. The new sock features the company’s combination of superfine Merino wool with Nufabrx nylon, which is infused with capsaicin and a synthetic cooling agent. This combination of warming and cooling ingredients aims to provide temporary …
What's New?
Graphene-coated jacket prototypes released
August 30, 2018
Graphene is invisible and a single atom thick, yet reported to be the strongest, most conductive and lightest material ever discovered. But it is also expensive to produce at scale, difficult to work with and is found primarily in research labs. Despite the hurdles of working with the substance, Vollebak is releasing graphene-coated jackets as …
What's New?
Peelaways sheets for home and health care launched
August 24, 2018
After more than three years in development, Peel Away Labs has presented its waterproof multilayer bed sheet, a recent release announced. Peelaways sheets are designed to be changed by simply pulling down the sheet from one corner, to peel away the old sheet and reveal a fresh one underneath. Health experts say sheets in the home …
What's New?
Data-storing shirt is possible, researchers say
August 20, 2018
Imagine a standard shirt that functions as data storage. Researchers from the University of Washington were recently successful in developing a smart textile made with conductive yarn that works without any external power source, so that a garment made from it can be washed and ironed. In a report on Knittingindustry.com the researchers believe that …
What's New?
Researchers weave fabric with optoelectronic diodes in its fibers
August 20, 2018
The latest development in textiles and fibers is a kind of soft hardware that you can wear: cloth that has electronic devices built right into it. MIT reports that a team of researchers has embedded high speed optoelectronic semiconductor devices, including light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and diode photodetectors, within fibers that were then woven into a …
What's New?
Silk composite helps artificial skin last longer
August 6, 2018
Artificial skin-like systems can be used in place of animals to test pharmaceuticals and cosmetics or to model how wounds heal. But commercially available human skin equivalents (HSEs), typically last about one week before degradation begins. A new matrix, however, could enable longer-terms studies of human skin responses over weeks or even months and be …
What's New?
New hats use brrr° cooling technology
August 3, 2018
Team headwear brand The Game announced a new line of hats made with brrr° cooling technology to keep athletes and consumers cool and comfortable. The hats will use the technology’s three cooling effects: cooling minerals combined with active wicking and rapid drying technologies to move heat away from the body. The companies report that the …
