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2023 Specialty Fabrics Showcase, Part 2
May 1st, 2023
Awnings, tents, shade sails, marine upholstery, protective gear, furniture: Regardless of the end product, the fabric needs to perform in harsh conditions while looking good, keeping the planet green and fitting into a client’s budget. For our two-part annual showcase, we asked contributors to send us information about their latest high-performance textiles. We’ve organized the […]
Textile industry leaders discuss 2023 market challenges
April 1st, 2023
Automation and new equipment is allowing companies to manufacture with fewer employees. Photo: Sewbo The Advanced Textiles Association (ATA) board chair, Amy Bircher, and the ATA first vice chair, Roy Chism, responded to questions about the industry in 2022 and where it may be going in 2023. Amy Bircher, CEO and founder,MMI Textiles Inc. Chairman, […]
Sustainable Tyrian purple dye created via fermentation
April 1st, 2023
Conagen® aims to replace petroleum-based ingredients and reduce carbon footprints with green technologies. Photos: Conagen Conagen® is the world’s first biotechnology company commercializing a sustainable Tyrian purple dye by fermentation. Tyrian purple is a historically coveted and expensive dye found in rare and limited sources in marine nature. As with any biologically sourced textile dye, […]
Sustainable medical textiles
March 1st, 2023
The detail photograph of Stryker’s Prevalon Heel Protector II illustrates some of the challenges faced by medical device companies in dealing with different materials and components for cleaning, reusing or recycling. Photo: Marie O’Mahon IT’S A SOBERING statement: “The U.S. health care system is responsible for an estimated 10%of national greenhouse gas emissions, which cause […]
Hemp offers new growth opportunities
February 1st, 2023
An industrial hemp field at the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture. The variety of cannabis cultivated for hemp has only small amounts of THC relative to that grown for the production of marijuana or hashish. Photo: UK College of Agriculture Hemp fiber is gaining traction for its medicinal and industrial applications. How far this […]
Simplifying sustainability
February 1st, 2023
Bio-based Dyneema® rope uses waste from the pulp and timber industry as its primary raw material. Photo: Material ConneXion There is an abundance of information available about sustainability that, while conveying much, can lack clarity. A simpler directive regarding sustainability would be this: If you produce something, to be “sustainable” (leaving aside the social aspects […]
3M, DOE reduce N95 costs
February 1st, 2023
Cutting the cost of N95 mask-making The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory has collaborated with multinational tech company 3M to develop a technique to reduce the amount of energy required for melt-blowing the materials needed in N95 masks and other applications. The melt-blowing process is also used for other products like furnace […]
Leather made from flowers
February 1st, 2023
“Flaux” is a new leather-like, textile material that uses waste from commercially produced flowers as its main ingredient and dye. When Irene Purasachit was a design student at Aalto University in Finland, she began to reflect on the aftermath of wedding ceremonies in her home country of Thailand, where flowers ended up in trash piles […]
Longer-lasting implantable batteries
February 1st, 2023
Researchers at MIT have come up with a way to improve the energy density of nonrechargeable batteries that could enable up to a 50 percent increase in useful lifetime, or a corresponding decrease in size and weight for a given amount of power or energy capacity. The new technology could also improve safety, with little […]
Baby shoes that dissolve in water
February 1st, 2023
Made from a water-soluble plastic called polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), Woolybubs stand up to normal use, but dissolve when placed in boiling water. Photo: Woolybubs Don’t throw out used baby shoes—boil them. That’s what Woolybubs founders Jesse and Megan Milliken say parents can do with the company’s biodegradable baby shoes that dissolve in boiling water. The […]