Understanding intelligent textiles
November 4th, 2020
The Advanced Textiles Conference of IFAI’s Virtual Expo 2020 continued Nov. 4 with a detailed presentation by Justine Decaens on “Smart Textiles: From Lab Prototypes to Commercial Products.” Decaens is R&D director with CTT Group, a testing laboratory and R&D facility specialized in technical textiles, headquartered in Quebec, Canada. Decaens first offered to define “smart […]
Smart fabrics market outlook
April 3rd, 2020
According to the “Smart Fabrics Market—Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2020-2025” report by ResearchAndMarkets.com, the smart fabrics market was valued at USD 2.16 billion in 2019 and is expected to reach USD 5.93 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 19.89 percent over the forecast period 2020-2025. The trend of using miniaturized electronics in the fabrics […]
Washable, weavable sensors
September 1st, 2019
UBC doctoral student Hossein Montazerian takes a look at a tiny sensor embedded into a fiber. The stretchable sensor—woven into fabric—can detect human movement and has the potential to alert individuals about their health, including when to hydrate or when to rest. Photo: UBC. Smart textiles continue to advance into more sophisticated and wearable options. […]
Textiles team up with technology for smart medical products
August 1st, 2019
Technological advances in the medical field are nothing short of mind-blowing. by Pamela Mills-Senn Take operating room (OR) technology. In today’s ORs, one might find an array of smart surgical tools, augmented reality devices and precision robotics that assist surgeons in performing the most complex and exacting of procedures. Patients are greatly benefiting from these […]
E-textiles in health monitoring
July 1st, 2019
Progress, potential and challenges for next-generation applications. by Debra Cobb Among the many benefits promised by the smart fabric revolution has been the “consumerization of health care.” Wearables are enabling the remote monitoring of a wide range of chronic medical conditions, from diabetes, high blood pressure and congestive heart failure (CHF) to symptoms of disease, […]
New smart fabrics and protective gear innovations keep first responders safer
December 1st, 2018
First responders—from firefighters to law enforcement to emergency medical services technicians—need to be ready to handle any situation they encounter, and they need the appropriate gear to respond quickly to emergencies. Responders draw on their experience to make sound decisions in the chaos of a crime or accident scene, or in the heat of a […]
A market overview of developments, successes and standards for electronic fabrics
August 1st, 2018
Smart fabrics are still so new to the textile world, relatively speaking, that it’s necessary to start with a working definition. That’s what the first presenter, IFAI’s market research director Jeffrey Rasmussen, did at IFAI’s Smart Fabrics Summit in Washington, D.C. In his overview of the smart fabrics market, Rasmussen said that smart fabrics are […]
New substrates for smart fabrics
January 1st, 2018
Manufacturers of smart fabrics are looking for new, novel textile substrates. A key takeaway from the Smart Fabrics Program and E-Textiles Workshop at the 2017 IFAI Expo was the symbiotic relationship between smart technologies and the development of suitable textile substrates to facilitate the desired function. While the fashion apparel business has become increasingly commodity-driven, […]
Wearable electronics technology developers, textile designers and fashion brands join forces to make smarter clothing
July 1st, 2017
Over the past decade, we’ve seen a slow but sure evolution of wearable electronics, including smart textiles, designed primarily to monitor body functions and communicate with the Internet of Things. But a great many of them were not especially wearable, and some never made it out of the lab. The tide, however, seems to be […]
Market realities
June 1st, 2016
Smart fabrics technologies present unique opportunities—and challenges—to commercial product development. The growth of smart fabrics technologies and applications is no longer a curiosity; it’s the new reality of high-tech fabrics, and it’s gaining ground at an impressive pace. The size of the smart fabrics market, as presented at the Smart Fabrics Summit on April 11 […]