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adidas, Allbirds collaboration produces low-carbon running shoe

June 28, 2021

Adidas and allbirds have collaborated on a shoe with a carbon footprint measured at 2.94kg CO2e. The companies say that the Futurecraft.Footprint was produced with 63 percent lower emissions when compared to a comparable shoe.  The project participants also adopted a lower-carbon development process as teams worked together digitally from initial development to product delivery, accomplished in less than 12 months. The …

New funding supports a garment recycling push

June 14, 2021

Resortecs® announces that it has raised €960k for industrial disassembling ovens and dismantable rivet buttons, as part of its effort to increase clothing recycling by making it more cost-effective and efficient. The company currently produces a stitching thread that dissolves in high temperatures, replacing the need for more labor-intensive and expensive processes. The dissolvable sewing …

New fabric harvests and stores energy

Bioengineers at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering and their colleagues have developed and successfully demonstrated a wearable fabric that can harvest and store solar energy from the sun. Their study, published by the journal Matter, shows a path to developing lightweight, smart clothing and wearable tech gear outfitted with unobtrusive bioelectronics sensors that can be used to …

Scientists succeed in plastics degradation

June 7, 2021

Most compostable plastics, made primarily of the polyester known as polylactic acid (PLA), end up in landfills and last about as long as any other plastic. But University of California, Berkeley, scientists have now invented a way to make them break down more easily within a few weeks using just heat and water. The new …

Researchers discover new waterproofing solution

May 10, 2021

A new coating solution discovered by researchers at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada, can transform regular materials into waterproof surfaces. The university reports that the product will be free of harmful fluorinated compounds, and effective on a variety of materials. SFU chemistry professor and project lead Hogan Yu estimates that their patented waterproofing …

Teijin offers recycled fiber breakthrough

May 7, 2021

Fibre manufacturer Teijin has developed technology to mass produce a new version of its Nanofront ultra-fine polyester. The Japanese company has described Nanofront as the world’s first nanofiber to be made from recycled polyester raw materials. It also said that the new technology it has developed will enable it to produce all of its polyester …

Conference on the sustainable finishing of textiles scheduled

April 26, 2021

A special edition of the World Congress on Textile Coating (WCTC) will be held to consider all aspects of sustainable finishing of textiles. The conference will take place live online Sept. 30–Oct. 1 and Oct. 7–8, 2021. The aim of the event is to explore the materials, processes and machinery that can help dyers, finishers, …

NILIT launches Sensil® BioCare

NILIT, a global provider of Nylon 6.6, has introduced Sensil® BioCare, a sustainable premium Nylon fiber enhanced with a technology that helps reduce the persistence of textile waste in sea water and in landfills. The product is the newest addition to the Sensil® portfolio of responsibly manufactured, environmentally considerate premium Nylon products that benefit the …

H&M, Good News launch sustainable shoe collection

April 12, 2021

A partnership with retailer H&M and U.K.-based shoe brand Good News has produced a unique trainer collection that uses recycled rubber from car tires and old shoes, with uppers made of recycled cotton, Vegea® and Bananatex®. Bananatex is a material based on the fiber from the banana plant family, which is made in the Philippines …

New technology makes foldable solar cells possible

March 8, 2021

Researchers at Pusan National University, Rep. of Korea, have built on recent developments in foldable electronics and phone screens to develop a foldable technology in solar panels. A key requirement for an efficient foldable conductor is the ability to withstand the pressure of bending within a very small radius while maintaining its integrity and other desirable …