Really good gets even better

December 16, 2019  |  My Take

by Janet Preus First of all, if you’re not just a little bit amazed that a textile (a textile!) can protect from fire, hazardous chemicals, high heat and other dangers, you are either so immersed in the protective products industry that it’s routine for you, or you’ve never had the opportunity…
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Upping the ante

November 11, 2019  |  My Take

by Janet Preus The trend toward multi-functional capabilities in textiles is pretty well established now. Not all fabrics have to do all things, but the more advanced a textile is, the more likely it is to require more than one functionality. Just to be clear about the terminology. I’m using “fu…
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My 11th Expo

October 7, 2019  |  My Take

IFAI Expo 2019 just closed in Orlando last Friday. It was a busy week! Dozens of educational opportunities in advanced textiles markets were dispersed over three days, in additional to a full afternoon as part of the pre-show events. More than 300 exhibitors – many of them with products I would co…
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Nothing ventured, nothing gained

September 9, 2019  |  My Take

by Janet Preus The medical textiles market is expected to reach $23.3 billion by 2025, according to a release May 29, 2019 from reportlinker.com. Non-implantable goods, the report says, takes the largest share, which is not at all surprising for obvious reasons. What’s a bit surprising is the grow…
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Imagining a new normal in energy

August 12, 2019  |  My Take

by Janet Preus Every so often I put the “energy” topic on the calendar. I’m fascinated with the idea that textiles of various kinds will be a critical part of new developments, especially for wearables and other small-scale applications, as well as transportable products. Solar energy seemed t…
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No shortcuts

July 15, 2019  |  My Take

by Janet Preus “If you’re going to do it, do it right.” We’ve all heard that saying, and we probably all agree with it, too. But if you’re going to create something that’s never existed before, how do you know that you’re doing it right?  I’m not talking about a new technology, …
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The real magic in innovation

June 10, 2019  |  My Take

by Janet Preus Plenty of intriguing ideas may never be researched and developed, much less commercialized, due to a lack of funding or other necessary support. Some of those we should mourn, but others maybe weren’t all that great after all and are better left abandoned. If an innovation can’t b…
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It’s what you don’t see

May 6, 2019  |  My Take

by Janet Preus Several years ago I thought it would be a good idea to do an article on research in invisibility technologies, taking the camouflage question beyond the obvious, you might say. I still think it was a good idea, but information and sources were … well, hard to find.  Had I chose…
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Remember electric socks?

April 8, 2019  |  My Take

I bought myself a pair of “electric socks” decades ago. Living in an outdoors-oriented family in Northern Minnesota, this was a supremely practical purchase. There were wires woven inside the toes and wires outside of the socks that ran all the way up my legs to a battery pack (two D-cells) affi…
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It’s not just your shirt that’s smart

March 11, 2019  |  My Take

Wearables and personal gear have dominated the smart textiles news—including in this publication. Smart shirts, shoes, backpacks and purses deliver health and fitness monitoring, safety features, and a means to access our smart phones when we need to leave them stashed in a pocket or handbag. But …
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