Oktoberfest can be celebrated this year with a shoe from adidas that’s made especially to withstand spilled beer – and anything else that might land on them. “Prost” shoes are made of leather coated in DBP resin to make the shoes resistant to spills they could encounter among the festivals celebrants. The leather construction of …

Mechanical engineers at Stanford University have created a robot inspired by organisms that cover distance by growing, such as vines, fungi and nerve cells. According to Stanford sources, the researchers’ aim is to establish a new approach to getting mobility from a mechanism. “It’s very, very different from the way that animals or people get …

Three Japanese companies have collaborated to develop a new aqueous, transparent flame-retardant coating. Landex Coat Flame Retardant Clear is the joint project of Dainichi Giken Co. Ltd., Daimaru Kogyo Co. Ltd. and Teijin Ltd. The new product is a halogen-free acrylic coating that can be applied to the surfaces of timber, paper, fiber, rubber and plastic. Application …

Heat safety is often a major concern for workers. Scheduled for release in February 2018, the new ZIPPCOOL® helmet cooler and ANSI Class 3 High Visibility Cooling Jacket aim to keep workers in construction, agriculture and manufacturing cool in hot environments. The company reports that the ZIPPKOOL Cooling Jacket works in hot environments between 80 …

Twin brothers and adventure athletes Nick and Steve Tidball have created a jacket made from material that can be charged to glow in the dark by exposing it to almost any light source. The company’s Solar Charged Jacket stores light to glow in the dark, and it protects from driving rain and winds, too. Their …

Taiwanese textile manufacturers recently presented products at the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market at a launch hosted by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council. New-product categories included fabric printing technology; smart textiles measuring heart rate and motion data; textile innovations utilizing fewer chemicals, water and raw materials while preserving function and complex colors; a PFC-free durable …

Denim North America, a division of DNA Textile Group, recently introduced a new product line called FYnesse® Denim. According to the company, the product offers performance stretch with reduced shrinkage for  better fabric utilization and increased garment-to-garment sizing consistency. FYnesse Denim incorporates FYnesse yarn, developed and produced by Fiber & Yarn Products, a division of Poole Co. The …

DuPont Advanced Materials recently announced the availability of its newest stretchable electronic inks and films for smart clothing. The announcement coincides with the launch of a new brand identity, DuPont Intexar smart clothing technology. The company says Intexar creates intelligent garments by connecting fabrics to biometric data including heart rate, breathing rate, form awareness and …

According to INVISTA, Taiwan’s Toung Loong Textile is launching a new line of fabrics consisting of a blend of INVISTA’s COOLMAX® AIR technology with LYCRA® fiber. The fabrics are specifically designed to meet the needs of women’s fitness wear. The high-performance fibers are engineered to maximize consumer comfort with moisture-management performance, breathability and fast drying times. …

Engineers at the University of California San Diego announce that they have developed a smart glove that wirelessly translates the American Sign Language (ASL) alphabet into text and controls a virtual hand to mimic sign language gestures. The device, which engineers call “The Language of Glove,” was built for less than $100 using stretchable and …