Art meets utility for textile cricket shelters in Qatar

December 1, 2023  |  Swatches

Some steel framing, shade cloth and oil paint—that seems a simple enough recipe to build shelters for cricket team members while they’re in the hot sun in Lusail, Qatar. But when handled by an artist and design studio, a simple shelter inspired by temporary spaces for construction workers is any…
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Textiles could make brine lithium extraction easier and faster

December 1, 2023  |  Swatches

Lithium mining requires large amounts of land and time to extract the salts from briny water, but a collaboration between Princeton University and University of Maryland researchers found that cellulose fibers could improve the process.
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Pitchers can up their game with data-collecting arm sleeve

December 1, 2023  |  Swatches

Instead of using radar guns, cameras and video to collect information about a baseball pitcher’s performance and arm health, sensors sewn into a fabric sleeve called the Nextiles Arm Sleeve can gather and report biometric data in real time. 
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Car cloak helps moderate EV battery temperatures

December 1, 2023  |  Swatches

Electric vehicles’ (EV) batteries perform best within a range of temperatures, roughly 60 to 80 F, give or take several degrees. On cold mornings, warming them up before you leave is essential, and when it’s really hot outside, the battery management system cools the batteries. Both processes sa…
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Modified silkworms create spider silk

December 1, 2023  |  Swatches

Production of spider silk on a commercial scale may soon be possible. Chinese scientists recently synthesized full-length spider silk fibers thanks to genetically modified silkworms.
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Spiders inspire smart textile fiber spinning method

December 1, 2023  |  Swatches

In their efforts to develop a method to create soft fibers that are stretchy, strong and electrically conductive and thus suitable for smart textiles, researchers at the National University of Singapore have drawn inspiration from the way spiders spin silk. 
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Honda workers give the shirts off their backs

December 1, 2023  |  Swatches

Honda is working toward becoming 100% carbon neutral and using only sustainable materials and clean energy by 2050—goals that require creative recycling solutions. One initiative already in practice repurposes old worker uniforms,transforming the textiles into sound-absorbing insulation used in ve…
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Advanced Textiles Expo: Excitement and Renewal

December 1, 2023  |  Expo Report, Features

With a new name and renewed enthusiasm, Advanced Textiles Expo (formerly IFAI Expo) returned to Orlando for the first time since 2019. The show boasted the highest attendance since that pre-COVID show, boosted in no small part by the return of more international exhibitors and attendees.
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Innovations in smart fabrics: Heating, cooling, bio-data collection and more via e-textiles

December 1, 2023  |  Features

When is a jacket not just a jacket? When it can actually interact with the wearer’s body to warm or cool it or collect biometric information. Interactive textiles—also known as smart textiles, smart clothing and e-textiles—are being developed to perform these and other functions.
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Selling your business

December 1, 2023  |  Features

If selling a residence can be an angst-filled undertaking, how much more unsettling is the thought of selling a business, especially one you’ve poured heart, soul, money and reputation into? But as potentially nerve-wracking as the prospect may be, there are measures shop owners can take to lessen…
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