Resiliency in the face of change

January 23, 2023  |  Features

Editor’s note: This month in our features we’re looking at the question, “What defined the advanced textiles industry in 2022?” I asked the Advanced Textiles Association (ATA) board chair, Amy Bircher, and the ATA 1st vice chair, Roy Chism, to respond to my questions about the industry in 20…
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The year ahead in textiles

January 9, 2023  |  Features

Will 2023 be the year that heralds a deglobalized, but more highly networked, textile industry? If so, what might that look like? One may look at this topic through four different lenses, starting with the supply chain, then robotics in manufacturing, 3D printing and the scalability of biotechnology…
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Safe, sustainable and successful

December 19, 2022  |  Features

“The U.S. health care system is responsible for an estimated 10 percent of national greenhouse gas emissions, which cause extreme weather events and contribute to worse health outcomes.” This is the sobering start to the U.S. House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee report, “Health ca…
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Driving sustainability in advanced textiles

December 12, 2022  |  Features

The recently concluded COP-27 meeting in Sharm-El-Sheikh has affirmed the commitment of nations across the world to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees C and has called for a rapid decrease in greenhouse gas emissions by about 43 percent by 2030, compared to the 2019 level. This means that all texti…
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Building sustainability

November 28, 2022  |  Features

There is an abundance of information available about sustainability that, while conveying much, it can lack clarity and simplicity. A simple and clear directive regarding sustainability is needed: if you produce something, anything, to be “sustainable” (leaving aside the social aspects for the m…
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Commercialization progress

November 14, 2022  |  Features

At the Advanced Textiles Conference in October in Charlotte, N.C., Anil Kircalianli, head of automation, Orbital Composites (OC), discussed the important role of textiles as a driver for sustainability, particularly in footwear design. Kircalianli argued that the company’s use of 3D printing and r…
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Focus on sustainability

October 24, 2022  |  Features

In the midst of the industry’s push to be more sustainable, one expert says, “There are no sustainable materials.” What Dr. Andrew Dent means is the goal for achieving circularity is to make the best choice in material (or materials) for that application. There are many variables in understand…
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The R & D answer

October 10, 2022  |  Features

Global markets have been unsettled, at least, with fears of recession following steep inflation that needed monetary intervention for correction. Meanwhile, governments are proposing fiduciary interventions for growing the economy. Support in terms of R & D tax incentives and investments to supp…
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The complex wearables market

September 26, 2022  |  Features

Manufacturing to scale is arguably the most significant challenge facing the smart materials and wearable technology industries—and it’s not just desirable, but essential for growth and survival. Without full commercialization, the drive for new developments and research are in jeopardy. There i…
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Tomorrow’s textiles

September 12, 2022  |  Features

Historical branding of textiles has led the general population to think that textiles are anything but advanced. As anyone in the textile industry can appreciate, textiles are not simple or basic, but are platforms that facilitate a human’s ability to blur the line between creativity and engineeri…
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