From Bauhaus to your house
March 1st, 2020
Bauhaus designers Gunta Stölzl and Anni Albers were masters of composition whose geometric designs are on trend in 2020. Photos: TOP: Gunta Stölzl: Design for a Wallhanging,” ca. 1920–1926; Image © Victoria and Albert Museum, London watercolor, pencil, ink, Gouache. © Stölzl Estate. BOTTOM: Designtex. The Bauhaus was an art school founded in Germany in […]
Smart seat covers for planes
January 1st, 2020
Now in the prototype stage, Move, a smart textile seat cover, puts the passenger in the driver’s seat when it comes to personal comfort flying economy class. Photos: LAYER. How can you have a better experience flying economy? The answer may lie in smart textiles and their ability to respond to individual needs. That’s the […]
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 […]
Revitalizing U.S. textiles
April 18th, 2019
In a recent article, Seshadri Ramkumar, Texas Tech University professor in the Department of Environmental Toxicology, explains the reasons why a revival in U.S. textile manufacturing is necessary. His discussion with professor Eric Hequet, a renowned cotton fiber quality expert at Texas Tech, details the steady growth of the advanced textile industry including nonwovens while […]
India’s textiles sector grows
April 4th, 2019
India’s textiles sector, which currently employs more than 45 million people, will require 17 million additional workers by 2022. The textiles ministry said in the last four years, 8.58 lakh persons have been trained in partnership with 58 government and industry partners to meet the sector’s need for a skilled workforce. Twelve markets in Vietnam, […]
Sustainable sourcing
April 1st, 2019
Following her recent podcast Sustainable Textile Sourcing for Performance Textiles in Munich, I caught up with Anne-Marie van Hoof, owner and creative director at 4-Options Studio in The Netherlands, to get her take on what she sees as driving sustainability within the industry now and into the future. Fiber credentials The 4-Options Studio offers a […]
Sustainable shade technology
April 1st, 2019
It’s only fitting that the new research and development facility for the Kolon Group, a leading South Korean manufacturer of innovative textiles, would stretch the boundaries of design. The company wanted the facility, dubbed the Kolon One & Only Tower, to embody its commitment to creativity, technology and sustainability. The 820,000-square-foot building is designed to […]
Extreme sports, tough textiles
March 1st, 2019
Fabricators go to great lengths to make sure every piece of material they produce or distribute will be up to difficult tasks. But sometimes the task is so specialized—or so extreme—that production requires a truly exceptional level of care, expertise and, often, regulation. Products such as the ropes that firefighters use to rappel from helicopters […]
Advancing sustainability in textiles
March 1st, 2019
Textiles are part of a larger drive to protect and preserve resources for the future. Sustainability may be understood as a way to judiciously consume resources while leaving or even enhancing the availability of resources for future generations. The term “sustainability” has developed a powerful vibe that affects our society in general and the business […]
Textile origami for space habitats
March 1st, 2019
So, you move to Mars—now where are you going to live? As a matter of fact, there is innovative work being done on that subject. A design team is working on the MoonMars project—architecture plans for smart human habitats and research stations on other planets. They are experimenting with origami and high-performance textiles to create […]