Features Archives

What to know about e-textile standards

August 22, 2022 | Features

As the e-textiles industry continues to grow, it will be essential that there are consensus-based international standards to support the industry to ensure reliability of materials and products and best practices used in design and manufacture.

Translational research to market success

August 9, 2022 | Features

Unexpected demand, raw material price volatility, market fluctuations and other factors have created a stressful scenario for the commodity textiles sector. In countries like India, where textile exports contribute to major export incomes, such volatile situations create a panic in the entire supply…

Breaking out of the bubble

July 25, 2022 | Features

In seeking to promote growth in the textile industry, it’s important to identify value-driven markets that our capabilities, or core-competencies, can address. Our inspirations concerning the industry come from different sources. Most recently, a blog post on this site, by Advanced Textiles Source…

Protective textiles at work

July 11, 2022 | Features

A safe, clean and pollution free workplace is important in offering a quality of life for a labor force, which also enhances worker productivity, but there can be multiple risk factors in a work environment, including mechanical or electrical hazards, extreme heat or cold, toxic chemicals, noise and…

Major support for smart textile R&D announced

June 27, 2022 | Features

Government contracts, historically, have been a major source of funding for research and development in the advanced textiles world. An example of this significant commitment was announced recently with a new program through The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA). It has introd…

Expanding the definition of “textile”

June 9, 2022 | Features

When is a material a textile? When is a textile a fabric? The unprecedented scope of new materials in development—by academia, government-funded technology groups, and start-ups—is challenging traditional concepts of fabric formation. How this will impact the larger industry is a useful question…

From concept to market success

May 23, 2022 | Features

There is no shortage of innovation in medical textiles, but it remains a persistent challenge to get those great ideas to market. In terms of patents filed, medical technology is showing relatively slow growth among the technology fields—just 6.5 percent during the period 2008–2018, according to…

A startup ecosystem

May 9, 2022 | Features

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has emphasized the need for, and the benefits of, translational research, which enables startups. “Startups are akin to having new plants and trees in an ecosystem,” says Dr. Atul Parvatiyar, director, Center for Sales & Customer Relationship Excellence at Texas …

Expanding the possibilities with e-fibers and yarns

April 25, 2022 | Features

Electronic or e-yarns are a natural development within e-textiles as the sector strives towards greater miniaturization, flexibility and a more seamless integration of electronics and textiles. What has started to emerge in a relatively short time is the added value and novelty that it can bring to …

Progress through collaboration