Deaf patrons feel opera productiions via haptic SoundShirt

July 1, 2024  |  Swatches

The SoundShirt software was refined at the Lyric Opera of Chicago during the 2022–23 season, which featured test audiences. This past season the theater made 10 shirts available for select performances of each opera. Increasing numbers of the shirts were used during each performance. Images: Lyric…
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Clothes infused with vitamins, medicine

July 1, 2024  |  Swatches

Clothing 2.0, a biotechnology company in Conover, N.C., has developed a patented technology that infuses over-the-counter (OTC) medicine, vitamins and supplements into yarn to create reusable garments and textiles. The company was launched in 2023 by Jordan Schindler of Textile-Based Delivery Inc. a…
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Just add heat: Researchers create style-changing dress

June 1, 2024  |  Swatches

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Self-Assembly Lab have created prototypes of a 4D knit dress that can change style using heat.
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Researchers investigate nanoplastics

June 1, 2024  |  Swatches

Researchers at the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa) have taken the study of microplastics to the next level—nanoplastics.
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Coating for textiles reduces growth of bacteria, viruses

June 1, 2024  |  Swatches

Researchers at Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa), BASF, Spiez Laboratory and the Technical University of Berlin have created an antimicrobial coating for textiles that reduces or kills viruses and bacteria.
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Sustainable 3D-printed fashion created with biomaterial

June 1, 2024  |  Swatches

3D-printed fashion allows for personalization and on-demand production, but it can be difficult to source sustainable materials. Balena, a materials science company based in Italy, and 3D fashion designer Brigitte Kock, founder of the studio Variable Seams, have tackled this problem using Balena’s…
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Vollebak jacket changes color depending on type of light

June 1, 2024  |  Swatches

Vollebak materials scientists have developed a coat that changes color based on ambient lighting, going from orange in bright sunlight to glowing “kryptonite” green at night after being charged with a bright flashlight or car headlights.
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Spider silk created from artificial gland

June 1, 2024  |  Swatches

Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science in Japan and the RIKEN Pioneering Research Cluster took a biomimicry approach to creating artificial spider silk. Their approach worked with microfluidics, or the manipulation of fluid through narrow channels, such as happens in a spid…
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Continuous light with solar-powered lanterns

June 1, 2024  |  Swatches

Solight Design Inc. makes solar-powered inflatable lanterns, providing campers and backpackers with hours of continuous light without batteries.
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New material debuts in dry bags

June 1, 2024  |  Swatches

After two years of development and a third year of testing, Watershed Drybags of Asheville, N.C., has released bags made of a new proprietary material, Kryptothane™ Plus.
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