Archives

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 […]

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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 […]

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Futuristic fabrics

May 1st, 2016

Today's smart fabric products, with embedded or woven technological components, are resonating with consumers, and the market is responding. Woven, nonwoven and knitted textiles are the foundation of the fabrics that make up our daily existence, from the clothes we wear to the upholstered chairs we sit on. They’re also the building blocks of the […]

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Smart Fabrics Summit draws key industry participants

May 1st, 2016

Government and industry players gathered in Washington, D.C., April 11 to discuss the “nascent smart fabrics market,” as described by Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker, who moderated the final session at the one-day event. “This room is buzzing with energy,” said David Lauren, executive vice president of global marketing and communications for Ralph Lauren Corp., […]

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U.S. Secretary of Commerce to moderate business leaders at Smart Fabrics Summit

February 18th, 2016

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker will be the moderator for a panel of senior level business leaders at the Smart Fabrics Summit on April 11, 2016 in Washington D.C. The Summit, hosted by the Department of Commerce and the Industrial Fabrics Association International (IFAI), will provide a forum for public and private sector leaders […]

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IFAI, Dept. of Commerce to host smart fabrics summit

November 23rd, 2015

UPDATE: Date has been changed. The Smart Fabrics Summit will be on April 11, 2016. The U.S. Department of Commerce announced it will partner with the Industrial Fabrics Association International (IFAI) to host the first-ever Smart Fabrics Summit on April 11, 2016 in Washington, D.C. The Summit will provide a forum for public and private […]

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Smart fabric markets show steady growth

October 7th, 2015

IFAI’s market research manager Jeff Rasmussen says that the worldwide smart fabrics market is growing at an annual rate of about 8 percent from about $984 million in 2011 to a projected $1.9 million in 2015. Rasmussen’s presentation on “Current Developments in the Smart and Interactive Fabrics Market” spoke Wednesday morning at IFAI’s Advanced Textiles […]

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