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Growth engines in advanced textiles
March 11th, 2024
Scientists at North Carolina State University have developed a soft robot, designed like a caterpillar, capable of moving forward, backward, and squeezing through tight spaces. Its movement is powered by a unique pattern of silver nanowires that use heat to regulate its bending, giving users the ability to direct the robot in any desired direction. Photo: Shuang […]
AI and textiles: it’s already here
February 26th, 2024
This image relating to digital design was generated using OpenAI’s text-to-image generative AI tool, DALL-E. Provided by Caitlin Knowles/AFFOA. Editor’s note: Two researchers with expertise in advanced technologies—and smart textiles, in particular—responded to questions about artificial intelligence and its future in the industry. Irmandy Wicaksono (IW) is a research assistant in the MIT Media Lab and […]
Taking on the wearables challenges
November 13th, 2023
AFFOA showed a newly developed material for smart products in their booth on the show floor at Advanced Textiles Expo in Orlando. It describes the material as a “flexible, roll-to-roll, inkjet manufacturable, RF metamaterial for wearables.” Photo: Janet Preus. The Emerging Technologies Conference, part of the Advanced Textiles Association’s annual Expo, revealed the diversity in […]
ATA’s Emerging Technologies Conference begins Oct. 31
July 17th, 2023
The Advanced Textiles Association (ATA) presents its Emerging Technologies Conference beginning Oct. 31 at the Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, Fla., and continuing through Nov. 2 as a part of Advanced Textiles Expo 2023. Presentations will begin at the opening lunch at 11:30 and continue throughout Expo 2023. Scheduled presentations Jeremy Husic, senior staff engineer, […]
Tomorrow’s textiles
September 12th, 2022
An example use of the fiber-based microelectronics integrated into a New Balance running shoe for safety applications and unique data transmission. Photo: AFFOA 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 […]
When “disruptive” is a good word
February 3rd, 2022
by Janet Preus When I was a teacher, the word “disruptive” was usually attached to a student who had interrupted the flow of a lesson or class activity with inappropriate behavior. With sometimes as many as 30 or more students, all trying to accomplish the same thing at the same time, one student could indeed […]
Thermal control: beyond apparel
May 9th, 2017
A range of industries could benefit from new materials, processes and technologies. Recent advances in thermal control for apparel have “grabbed the headlines” in this type of textile technology, but there are highly sophisticated materials and technologies that are less obvious, but at least as impressive. Depending on what the desired outcome is, an approach […]