TEXTILES.ORG
Shoes
November 14th, 2022
In the world of apparel, there is nothing to compare to shoes. Some people have one pair and wear them every single day. Others have a closet full—one for every occasion and outfit. Most of us fall somewhere in between, but we all have strong opinions about shoes, and you can’t argue with me on […]
Don’t just take my word for it
October 24th, 2022
I have an old half-zip turtleneck. I like the fit, the cut and the feel of it – even after 10 years. Yes, it’s a high-quality brand. I keep it because it’s my go-to shirt for outdoor chores at the lake. Bits of imbedded pine sap and random dirt stains are evidence of its years […]
I could say I told you so
September 12th, 2022
I may not live to see this happen—or to see it happen to the extent I anticipate—but I fully expect smart textiles to eventually be a meaningful part of every market in the industrial fabrics industry. The transition is underway. One indicator is a name change for this online magazine and the organization that publishes […]
“Acid, microbes, saltwater, perspiration, alkali, abrasion, stretch, torsion, flex endurance and washability”
August 22nd, 2022
Before automobiles, there was no reason to put up a stop sign on a country gravel road. Before there were enough children to fill a one-room school, there was no need for compulsory education. With no food processing and packaging industry, nobody needed a label to identify a sack of potatoes. So it is with […]
Running out of definitions
July 25th, 2022
Little by little we, as an industry, have expanded our view of what is a textile. Actually, many of the materials that are part of the stories we’ve run on the Advanced Textiles Source site are not “textiles” at all. Or fabric. They may not be called vinyls or even film. They are something else. But it […]
You call that a textile?
June 9th, 2022
It took me a while to embrace the larger industrial textiles world and get comfortable understanding them—all of them—as “textiles” (or “fabrics,” but that discussion will be for another time). What we may call traditional markets, such as awnings and canopies, tents and architectural structures, signage and other graphics, boat covers and upholstery, all use […]
Nothing ventured, nothing gained
May 9th, 2022
I don’t consider myself risk averse, generally, but I don’t have a burning desire to jump out of an airplane, either. I have, however, written a book that is difficult to classify. In the world of publishing, this is risky; it's hard to sell a book in a murky category. Regardless of where you may […]
Getting to know you and what you do
April 11th, 2022
The first Smart Fabrics Summit was co-sponsored by the U.S. Dept. of Commerce and held in Washington, D.C. in April 2016 and brought together participants that typically do not talk to each other. That’s not because they don’t like each other; it was simply because they do different things and didn't know each other. That […]
What? No polyester pants suit?
March 14th, 2022
There are those of us for whom “polyester pants suit” conjures up images of the “leisure suit,” designed to offer men (and the women, at the time, who did the laundry) a practical alternative to The Suit. These suits refused to wrinkle, wore like iron and gave the wearer a casual air, without having to […]
Hot and cold
December 13th, 2021
by Janet Preus The level of thermal management possible in textiles today is, quite literally, out of this world. The requirements of NASA and other enterprises venturing beyond earth have driven development of extraordinary materials that tolerate the extreme environment in Space. But for most of us, it’s a little hard to wrap our heads […]