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‘Luma’ pendant is a fuzzy fiber-optic light ball
December 19th, 2016
For artists Kevin Siwoff and Lisa Park, light is a material that can be pulled apart, strand by strand. In their latest collaboration, the two have created the “Luma” pendant—a sculpture that emits a calming and dreamlike light through thousands of fiber optic hairs. Siwoff and Park’s work is directly influenced by their 2015 sound-responsive installation “Luma,” […]
Adidas unveils world’s first performance shoe made from Biosteel
December 16th, 2016
Athletic-shoe maker adidas has unveiled the first performance shoe made using Biosteel® fiber—a replication of natural silk that’s 100 percent biodegradable through a natural process. The adidas Futurecraft Biofabric prototype shoe features an upper made from 100 percent Biosteel fiber, a nature-based, high-performance fiber developed by German biotech company AMSilk; the material is 15 percent […]
New generation of bluesign bluefinder online
December 15th, 2016
Fourteen years after the release of the first online positive list of safe chemicals, Swiss textile specialists bluesign technologies has launched the latest generation of the bluesign® bluefinder. This patented platform has already amassed more than 7,500 “bluesign approved” chemicals. Chemicals in the bluesign bluefinder originate from the most sustainably acting chemical companies in the world. […]
Researchers improve production of thin, efficient solar cells
December 14th, 2016
Researchers at the Air Force Research Laboratory are nearing thin, wearable electronics and other vital power applications. Photovoltaics, or solar cells, are a key component in next-generation power applications, but integrating them into Air Force systems has been difficult because the materials used to make the cells are typically thick, opaque, rigid and heavy. Attempts […]
Hospital linens market expected to reach 9.1 by 2024
December 9th, 2016
According to a recently published report by Transparency Market Research (TMR), the global market for hospital linen supply and management services is likely to rise at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.4 percent from 2016 to 2024 and increase to $9.1 billion by the end of the forecast period. The market was valued at […]
MEVOPUR announces additives for medical nonwovens
December 9th, 2016
Swiss specialty-chemicals developer Clariant and its Masterbatches business unit announce a range of MEVOPUR® color and functional additives for use in high-performance, spunbond fibers used in medical applications. Nonwoven fibers are used in applications including surgical gowns and masks, sterilization bags, medical filtration products, sanitary and hygienic pads and wound-care dressings. Since pigments and additives […]
Making medical miracles
December 9th, 2016
When you think about it, it’s so logical. Of course the textiles industry would be a critical participant in responding to the needs of modern medicine. High performance textiles are everywhere in this environment, from the scrubs and lab coats worn by every health care provider to privacy curtains and disposable drapes in hospitals and […]
Cornell U. develops textile that absorbs pollutants
December 9th, 2016
Researchers at Cornell University in the U.S. have developed a technique that allows the creation of functional textiles that could be capable of filtering pollutants out of water and air. By infusing cotton with a beta-cyclodextrin (BCD) polymer, the fabric can act as a filtration device. The cotton fabric was present in the polymerisation process, resulting […]
The technology incubator
December 9th, 2016
IFAI Expo showcases the best of advanced textiles developments. Walking the Advanced Textiles section of IFAI Expo in Charlotte this fall was a bit like touring a food market where an array of ingredients is on display, waiting for a chef to choose, combine them and create a dish whose value is above and beyond that […]
A healthy outlook
December 9th, 2016
Textile manufacturers respond to needs for flexible medical and biomedical products. In the world of bad news/good news scenarios, one can hardly find a more salient example than that presented in the medical arena. Technological advances are gaining traction amid the growing threats of superbugs, global spread of disease and demand for regenerative treatments to […]