Trade and Textiles in the New Global Era

May 22, 2025  |  Features

According to the World Trade Organization (WTO), tariffs and uncertainty surrounding trade policy due to recent U.S. policy shifts will lead to the decline in global trade volume by 0.2 percent in 2025, contrary to growth predictions in January 2025. Global trade is heavily influenced by two major e…
Read More
Making the best use of AI

May 8, 2025  |  Features

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is already reshaping the textile industry—not with flashy headlines, but with practical improvements in planning, sourcing and execution. Manufacturers are using AI to improve operations, avoid common pitfalls, and align teams for long-term success, with insights on re…
Read More
Hidden and essential

April 24, 2025  |  Features

Is there a role for textiles in today's composites industry? The answer is not just yes, it is a resounding affirmative. In March, the composite industry’s JEC show in Paris confirmed this with a strong showing of textiles ranging from super high-strength fibers to large scale textile structures. …
Read More
Chemicals and functionality in textiles

April 14, 2025  |  Features

The ongoing tariff uncertainty will certainly impact the global textiles and apparel market. Although a needed commodity, textiles are dependent on discretionary spending, which depends on the economy. GDP growth plays a critical role in the consumption of textiles and apparels and therefore the gr…
Read More
Powering smart fabrics

March 24, 2025  |  Features

Energy has become a key issue in the development of e-textiles for applications ranging from wearables to transport. LOPEC 2025, held in Munich in February 2025, elected to highlight the end-user perspective this year across conference papers, poster presentations and the Innovation Showcase, with n…
Read More
Making wearable tech a reality

March 10, 2025  |  Features

We are in the middle of a historic leap in textile technology. Whether it’s the development of new yarns and coatings, or the integration of electronics into existing textiles, the future of wearable technology is rapidly evolving—and the future is bright. It seems like every week brings another…
Read More
Recent advances in biomedical textiles

February 24, 2025  |  Features

In 2003 after 13 years of global collaboration, the Human Genome Project was successfully completed, providing a comprehensive blueprint of human genetic information. This has given impetus to a rapidly expanding level of research in disease diagnosis such as cancer, personalized medical treatments,…
Read More
Challenges and rewards

February 10, 2025  |  Features

Biomedical textiles are a highly specialized, relatively small segment of the global textile industry. Even among the more advanced textile technologies, the path to commercializing medical textiles, generally, and biomedical textiles, in particular, is unusually challenging, facing stringent indus…
Read More
The crisis of textile waste

January 27, 2025  |  Features

December 12, 2024, the U.S. Government Accountability Office released a report titled “Textile Waste: Federal Entities Should Collaborate on Reduction and Recycling Efforts.” The report also offers practical solutions to address the problem, centering on a collaborative approach. Not that it wil…
Read More
Textile waste to wealth

January 13, 2025  |  Features

According to the United Nations’ Environment Programme, cities globally are expected to produce 2.2 billion tons of waste each year by 2025. Given the economic, environmental and health impacts of waste, it is important for the textile industry to reduce, reuse and recycle the waste. For example, …
Read More