What is a patent?

According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), a patent is a property right granted by the U.S. government to an inventor “to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale or selling the invention throughout the U.S. or importing the invention into the U.S.” for a limited time in exchange for public disclosure of the invention when the patent is granted.

Connecting the threads

February 1, 2016  |  Advanced Textiles, Markets

Tips for obtaining strong patent protection in textiles. Imagine that a research scientist developed a new woven fabric that could potentially have a significant impact as an implantable medical device to replace damaged tissue. Excited about the potential of this breakthrough technology, this scien…
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Textiles in space

February 1, 2016  |  Advanced Textiles, Features, Markets

The textile industry has made significant contributions to human space exploration in the past. There are also important opportunities to meet NASA’s needs today. Since the start of human spaceflight, the U.S. space program has faced many challenges in clothing astronauts. Survival inside a sp…
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R&D for everyone

January 1, 2016  |  Advanced Textiles, Markets

Gaston College Textile Technology Center offers its equipment and expertise for hire. Autocoro, MDTA Rotorring, Spectraflash, Statimat. If you don’t have one of these, know how to operate one or even know what it does, don’t feel bad. That’s why there’s a place like Gaston College Textile Te…
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Comfortable, versatile—and smart

December 1, 2015  |  Advanced Textiles, Markets

Interest, investment and applications in wearables show robust growth. With wearable technology continuing to thrive, IFAI’s Advanced Textiles Conference in Anaheim, Calif., in October offered attendees a variety of opportunities to learn about the current and projected market, new product offerin…
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Determining relevance

November 1, 2015  |  Advanced Textiles, Markets

A process for choosing standards and testing for your products. Standard test methods characterize goods and services so that communication between buyers and sellers is facilitated across the global marketplace. Manufacturers may be motivated to test their products according to published standards …
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Thriving on innovation

October 1, 2015  |  Advanced Textiles, Features, Markets

Success in medical and biomedical textiles markets requires established expertise and a long-term commitment. If you want to talk about today’s medical textiles markets, it’s necessary to go beyond the end product—and even the finished textile—and look at what goes into making that textile. …
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Vital signs

October 1, 2015  |  Advanced Textiles, Markets

The medical textiles market is growing, serving both health and wellness. The majority of research and development in smart materials comes from transport. Health and well-being have great need of responsive technologies, so why should medical textiles be one of the smallest sectors of the market? T…
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What to wear to Mars

September 1, 2015  |  Advanced Textiles, Markets

Requirements for space garments share similarities with those worn on Earth. For human space missions beyond low-Earth orbit (LEO), the logistical burden is at least twice as great as that of missions in low-Earth orbit. Take, for instance, a trip to Mars, which is being planned by NASA to occur som…
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Keeping it cool in space

August 1, 2015  |  Advanced Textiles, Markets

Specialized textiles play an important role in thermal control for an evolving aerospace marketplace. Where there are flights, space missions and satellites, there are advanced textiles. For composites used in aircraft engines, multi-layer insulation (MLI) blankets for launch support and satellites,…
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Not too hot, not too cold

August 1, 2015  |  Advanced Textiles, Features, Markets

New textiles and applications that control temperature provide comfort and safety in extreme conditions. When obstacles for achieving a goal are temperature related, there’s a good chance that textiles are a part of the solution. Just ask Erik Weihenmayer, who has scaled the Seven Summits (the hig…
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