Environmentally speaking

February 1, 2022  |  Advanced Textiles, Markets

We are standing at an inflection point in world history. We can create an environment that raises the standard of living around the world,” President Joseph Biden said in his speech at COP26, the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference. “This is a moral imperative, and it is also an econom…
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Cutting through the fabric ceiling

February 1, 2022  |  Features

Faith Roberts, Ltm, MFC, IFM, owner of Ham Lake, Minn.-based Banner Canvas, can think of several examples of gender-based discrimination she’s encountered over her 40-year career.
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The shape of safety

February 1, 2022  |  Features

Fit and function cannot be separated when it comes to protective clothing—and yet for years, anyone who didn’t possess a “typical” male body-type standard needed to make do if they wanted to work in fields that rely on wearing protective clothing. For the most part, women who wanted to work …
Tell us your stories

February 1, 2022  |  Editorial

As we settle into the new year there are several things we wish we could have left behind but are already leaving their mark on 2022. The pandemic continues to wreak havoc around the world, of course, with new variants emerging almost as fast doctors can identify them.
Building a jacket that’s more than waterproof

February 1, 2022  |  Swatches

British adventure clothing brand Vollebak has launched a jacket it says is not just waterproof, it’s waterfall proof. The outer layer of the company’s Waterfallproof Puffer was inspired by the famously waterproof lotus leaf, which may look completely flat, but the surface is covered with microsc…
Making cotton behave more like synthetic fibers

February 1, 2022  |  Swatches

Most performance fabrics used in athletic clothing, such as Spandex, are made from synthetic fibers—plastic, essentially—but Natural Fiber Welding (NFW), has found an alternative to synthetic fabrics.
Wearable glucose sensor responds to sweat

February 1, 2022  |  Swatches

Diabetic patients typically check their blood glucose levels with a finger-prick blood test, or a subdermal implanted sensor. But an experimental new device could perform this function just sitting on the patient’s skin. Currently under development at Pennsylvania State University, the low-cost se…
Eco-friendly passive cooling solution

February 1, 2022  |  Swatches

Scientists from MIT’s Dept. of Mechanical Engineering have developed a means to modify fibers of PE (polyethylene), found in plastic wrap and grocery bags, to create fabrics that absorb and evaporate water more quickly than common textiles such as cotton, nylon and polyester.
Minimally obtrusive sensing with smart textiles

February 1, 2022  |  Swatches

In his presentation at IFAI EXPO 2021, Carsten Linti of the German Institutes of Textile and Fiber Research (DITF) outlined some of the institutes’ work with e-textiles R & D. Smart textiles are proving particularly effective as diagnostic systems, providing real time data communication and di…
A different kind of label

February 1, 2022  |  Swatches

Taking a cue from the ubiquitous nutrition facts label that adorns nearly every packaged food item, Tennessee-based fashion brand Nisolo has introduced a Sustainability Facts Label, that it says is the most comprehensive label to measure a product’s impact the fashion industry has seen to date.