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Textile-to-textile recyclers form T2T Alliance
April 3, 2025
Textile-to-textile (T2T) recyclers Circ, Circulose, RE&UP and Syre have collaborated to form the T2T Alliance. The alliance will unite stakeholders and advocate for the textile sector within European Union (EU) policy and beyond. The Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) is a 2025 textile policy that will introduce new market-entry ecodesign requirements for apparel, mandating …
Company News
Acme Mills partners with Vietnam producers to expand nonwoven textiles offerings
April 2, 2025
Acme Mills, a textile manufacturer based in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., has announced a partnership with producers in Vietnam to expand its nonwoven textile offerings. This move addresses evolving global trade challenges, such as ongoing tariff concerns with China, allowing Acme Mills to continue delivering cost-effective, high-quality materials to its clients. As the textile industry navigates …
Industry News
President Trump imposes 25% tariff on automobile imports beginning April 3
April 1, 2025
President Donald Trump signed an executive order March 27 imposing a 25% tariff on automobile imports to the U.S., beginning April 3. Currently, the tariff will only apply to automobiles, but a process for including automobile parts is being developed. Automobiles covered under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement qualify for “preferential tariff treatment,” where they can …
Company News
The Mitchell Group achieves novel hydrolysis rating for polyurethane fabrics
April 1, 2025
The Mitchell Group, Niles, Ill., has announced that its Sta-Kleen Polyurethane and Sta-Kleen Polycarbonate fabrics now hold the highest hydrolysis ratings for polyurethane fabrics. Recent hydrolysis tests for the fabrics have returned novel results, setting a new benchmark for durability and performance in the performance textiles market. The hydrolysis test measures the resistance of materials to degradation …
News
Consumer confidence drops to four-year low
March 27, 2025
On March 26, the Conference Board released the March 2025 Consumer Confidence Index. The index fell 7.2 points to 92.9—the lowest it has been since January 2021. This dip was largely driven by sentiments among consumers 55 and older; to a lesser extent, consumers between 35 and 55 years old also contributed to the decline. However, …
Company News
Avantex appoints Carlos Botero president of Latin America
March 27, 2025
Avantex, an artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled software solutions provider for the fashion, apparel and textile industries, announced the appointment of Carlos Botero as its new president for Latin America. Botero brings more than two decades of experience in the textile and fashion sectors. He served as the executive president of Inexmoda for 14 years. Prior to …
Industry News
European Commission delays tariffs on U.S. goods until mid-April
March 26, 2025
The European Commission has announced a two-week delay in reciprocal tariffs on U.S. goods, which are now set to go into effect in mid-April. The commission announced these tariffs in response to the 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports imposed by the U.S. that began March 12. The commission initially planned to introduce tariffs …
Company News
Cellevate appoints Christel Fenge chief technology officer
March 26, 2025
Cellevate AB, a Lund, Sweden-based biotechnology company, announced the appointment of Christel Fenge, Ph.D., as chief technology officer (CTO) and member of the management team. Fenge has served as a strategic advisor to Cellevate since June 2024 and brings more than 30 years of experience in leadership roles within the bioprocessing and biopharmaceutical industries. Previous …
Company News
KARL MAYER wins trademark dispute against Turkish competitors
March 25, 2025
KARL MAYER announced the company has won a trademark dispute against competitors in Turkey. The company has registered trademarks for many of its products, including PROWARP® for its sectional warping machine in 2015, KARL MAYER PROSIZE® for its sizing machine in 2012, and PRODYE® for its indigo dyeing unit in 2018. In the court case, …
What's New?
No-touch smart fabric device is introduced
March 24, 2025
Touch-sensitive clothing capable of controlling devices via touchscreen-like finger taps and swipes on the fabric is impressive, but a touchless finger-gesture-detecting fabric has now been developed that offers a new functionality. The experimental textile is being developed by scientists from Nottingham Trent University in the U.K., the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf research lab in Germany and the Free …
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ATA News
Messe Stuttgart’s Sun Shading Expo North America moves co-location debut with IFAI Expo to 2022
July 6, 2021
Messe Stuttgart announced that its new U.S.-based show Sun Shading Expo North America will not be held in 2021 as a separate trade show but will instead contribute its expertise in internal and external sun shading systems at IFAI Expo 2021 in the form of expert talks, open discussions and more. IFAI Expo 2021 will still take place …
Expo News
Registration is open for IFAI Expo 2021
May 10, 2021
Registration is open for IFAI Expo 2021. IFAI Expo celebrates the 100th anniversary of the show this November, and you won’t want to miss it! After a long hiatus of in-person events, this year’s show is the perfect place to reconnect with your industry. Register now to get the Early Bird rate! Early Bird rates end …
Expo News
Standard for active illumination developed in Europe
November 16, 2020
In a session at IFAI Virtual Expo 2020, “Smart Textiles Standardization, Active Illumination,” Dr. Jan Beringer, senior scientific expert Hohenstein Group, explained the new standard for active illumination that will soon be implemented in European Union countries. Organizations worked together to develop the standards. It is notable, he said that both textile and electronics industries …
Expo News
Textile industry leaders call for policy changes to support U.S. production of PPE
November 13, 2020
The U.S. textile industry has stepped up to meet the demand for face masks, medical gowns, wipes and other products necessary to combat the coronavirus pandemic, but it needs policy changes from Washington so that the U.S. is not caught off-guard again in a future crisis, according to association leaders speaking at Industrial Fabrics Association …
Expo News
The larger issues in respiratory protection
November 12, 2020
Dr. Bryran Ormond, assistant professor, Wilson College of Textiles, NC State explained respiratory protection in an “Ask an Expert” session with Jing Liang, Medical PPE Consulting LLC. Dr. Ormand has typically worked in the area of chemical and biological protective equipment, but with the onslaught of the pandemic, began to focus on respiratory protection generally, …
Expo News
Surgical gowns require extra manufacturing considerations
November 11, 2020
All surgical gowns are not created equal, and a Nov. 11 presentation at IFAI Virtual Expo 2020 helped sort out the differences. The finer points of surgical gowns were discussed by Dr. Martin King, a professor at the Wilson College of Textiles, North Carolina State University, and Jing Liang, president of Medical PPE Consulting LLC. …
Expo News
Rodgers: Textiles are the “T” in STEM
November 11, 2020
How do you create a channel from research to application? How do you create a pathway toward understanding complex human problems across supply chains and market sectors? STEM—a curriculum based on teaching science, technology, engineering and math—has branched out from basic chemistry and biology and physics classes, into collaborative efforts, including textiles, according to Stephanie …
Expo News
E-textile testing and standards are evolving
November 11, 2020
At the 2020 Virtual Expo session, “Ask the Expert: Textile Electronics Testing and Standards,” Jesse Jur, a professor at the Wilson College of Textiles, North Carolina State University, discussed how standards and testing continue to evolve due to the evolution of textile-based electronics (e-textiles). Jur said that standards have long been a vital resource for …
Expo News
Guidance offered in commercial insurance market
November 10, 2020
Wildfires, hurricanes, a pandemic and civil unrest have wreaked plenty of chaos on the commercial insurance market in 2020. Steve Christenson, with Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC, offered guidance to business owners Nov. 9 at IFAI Virtual Expo 2020. “The business insurance market has been going through several changes this year,” says Christenson, with U.S. …
Expo News
How to make your business attractive to a buyer
November 6, 2020
Thinking about selling your business—either to an outside party or the next generation? Then it’s time to start considering how your equipment and processes fit into your succession plan. Jonathan Palmer, the second-generation owner and CEO of equipment supplier Autometrix, and Autometrix director of global sales Truy Pham, led an educational session at IFAI Virtual …
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Features
Powering smart fabrics
March 24, 2025
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, elected to highlight the end-user perspective this year across conference papers, poster presentations and the Innovation Showcase, with new technologies sharing the stage with energy efficient designs, so that every …
Features
Making wearable tech a reality
March 10, 2025
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 breakthrough from R&D firms and universities, unveiling …
Features
Recent advances in biomedical textiles
February 24, 2025
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, the understanding of genetic disorders, genetic engineering therapies, and applications in tissue …
Features
Challenges and rewards
February 10, 2025
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 industry standards and government regulations that can take years to meet. According to Allied Market Research, the global …
Features
The crisis of textile waste
January 27, 2025
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 will be easy, but it is, says the report, very important. Advanced Textiles Source has talked …
Features
Textile waste to wealth
January 13, 2025
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, in a spinning mill, recyclable and reusable textile …
Features
An end-of-year industry wrap-up
December 16, 2024
Research and development (R&D) have a direct impact on economies worldwide. In the case of textiles, including agriculture related to textiles, it provides job opportunities to millions, including an unskilled workforce. Within the textile industry, advanced textiles and chemicals sectors place relatively more emphasis on research. The nature of the industry, size and flexibility, pressure …
Features
Noteworthy innovations in healthcare textiles
December 9, 2024
In the midst of noteworthy innovations in healthcare textiles over this past year, comes the news that the Taliban has now forbidden women to train in midwifery in Afghanistan, where the number of mothers who die in childbirth is amongst the highest in the world. Midwifery was also the last form of education open to …
Features
A plan for meeting EPA PFAS regulations
November 18, 2024
As state and federal PFAS regulations continue to increase, textile manufacturers must prioritize thorough record-keeping and create a long-term plan for their business to accommodate these regulations. At this year’s Advanced Textiles Expo and Emerging Technologies Conference (ETC) in Anaheim, Calif., education about new regulatory requirements for PFAS substances was a major theme. Top of …
Features
Advances in Textile Recycling
November 11, 2024
Advanced textile recycling, including chemical, enzymatic, and molecular technologies, is considered by many to be the path to true circularity, making waste into materials not once, but over and over. Globally, 73 percent of collected apparel textile waste, according to the Ellen Macarthur Foundation, is landfilled or incinerated. Textile Exchange (TE) reports that of the 124 million …
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Industry News
President Trump imposes 25% tariff on automobile imports beginning April 3
April 1, 2025
President Donald Trump signed an executive order March 27 imposing a 25% tariff on automobile imports to the U.S., beginning April 3. Currently, the tariff will only apply to automobiles, but a process for including automobile parts is being developed. Automobiles covered under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement qualify for “preferential tariff treatment,” where they can …
Industry News
European Commission delays tariffs on U.S. goods until mid-April
March 26, 2025
The European Commission has announced a two-week delay in reciprocal tariffs on U.S. goods, which are now set to go into effect in mid-April. The commission announced these tariffs in response to the 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports imposed by the U.S. that began March 12. The commission initially planned to introduce tariffs …
Industry News
Technical textiles market expected to reach $284 billion by 2029
March 23, 2025
According to the latest study from BCC Research, “Technical Textiles: Global Markets,” the technical textiles market is expected to grow from $213.8 billion in 2024 to $284 billion by the end of 2029, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.8% during the forecast period of 2024–2029. Technical textiles are engineered to provide characteristics such as high strength, chemical …
Industry News
Tariffs on steel and aluminum begin, Canada imposes reciprocal tariffs
March 13, 2025
Twenty-five percent tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to the U.S. began March 12. In response, Canada has imposed reciprocal tariffs on various U.S. products, including a 25% tariff on steel imports. The country has also increased taxes on tools, computers and servers, sports equipment, display monitors, and cast-iron products.
Industry News
Mexico and Canada tariffs paused until April 2
March 6, 2025
President Donald Trump announced March 6 that he would pause the 25% tariffs on U.S. imports from Mexico and Canada covered under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) until April 2. The president initially announced a delay in Mexico tariffs in a social media post after a conversation with President Claudia Sheinbaum March 6. Later that …
Industry News
As tariffs begin, auto industry given one-month exemption
March 5, 2025
Imports from Canada and Mexico to U.S. automakers were given a one-month exemption to new tariffs on goods from these two countries, which began March 4. This decision by President Donald Trump comes after a March 5 conversation with three leading U.S. auto manufacturers: Ford, General Motors and Stellantis. The administration indicated this would be …
Industry News
Consumer spending fell for first time in nearly two years
March 3, 2025
Consumer spending in the U.S. dropped 0.2% in January—the first monthly decline since March 2023. The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis measures spending through the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index, and it decreased $30.7 billion. The bureau said that this reflected a $76.7 billion decrease in spending for goods and a $46.0 billion increase in …
Industry News
Public comments on trade open, tariffs begin next week
February 27, 2025
The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) opened its invitations last week for public comments on foreign trade practices and the Section 301 sanctions on China. The deadline to submit comments on foreign trade practices is March 11. The deadline to submit comments on Section 301 sanctions is March 24. USTR will hold …
Industry News
Leigh Fibers hits post-consumer textile waste milestone
February 13, 2025
Leigh Fibers, a recycled fiber products producer based in Wellford, S.C., announced that the company’s facility in Brownsville, Texas, has recycled more than half a billion pounds of post-consumer textile waste since the facility’s opening in the late 1990s. “We are proud to have been one of the first to engage the post-consumer textile waste …
Industry News
Tariff on China goes into effect, tariffs on Mexico and Canada pause for 30 days
February 4, 2025
President Donald Trump has paused tariffs on Mexico and Canada for 30 days following conversations with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The president initially signed executive orders imposing 25% tariffs on the two countries on Saturday, Feb. 1, which were expected to go into effect on Tuesday, Feb. 4. The president …
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Out There
Gaia Communication System feels the health of nature
February 24, 2025
Pavels Hedström has introduced the Gaia Communication System, a vest and a pair of gloves with sensors so that users feel the health of plants, insects, soil and air. Unveiled under his design practice Inxects, the Swedish architect has installed multiple haptic sensors around the vest and gloves, each of which correspond to a natural object. The …
Out There
Rewoven silk cocoon waste used as a leather alternative
December 9, 2024
Japanese designer Hiroto Ikebe recently showcased a leather alternative he developed using rewoven silk cocoon waste. His exhibition COCOON ANATOMY, shown during DESIGNART Tokyo 2024, displayed clothing that was designed to demonstrate that silk materials typically discarded or not used for mass production can be repurposed into fabrics and materials with multiple uses. The leather alternative comes from raw silk, …
Out There
Project explores human-bacterial interaction in textile design
September 18, 2024
Carolina De Lara’s project, Bacterial Brickbats, explores the interaction between bacterial cellulose and knit textiles to challenge traditional, human-centered design in fashion and textiles. The project negotiates human/non-human liaisons by proposing a study where sharing agency between designer and bacterial cellulose produces a material library illustrating differing needs, creative or biological, resulting in an expressive …
Out There
Solid-knitting machine builds reconfigurable objects
August 12, 2024
A new materials technique has blended the usefulness of knitting needles and yarn with cutting-edge technology to create the equipment and process to make a solid-knit object of almost any kind. Yuichi Hirose first dreamed up this technique when he was a student at Keio University in Tokyo. There, working on digital fabrication methods in …
Out There
FLOAT designed for moving on the Moon
June 24, 2024
NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) 2024 Phase II awardee Ethan Schaler has proposed the first lunar railway system to provide reliable, autonomous and efficient payload transport on the Moon. The Flexible Levitation on a Track (FLOAT) system is a durable, long-life robotic transport system—a function that will be critical to the daily operations of a …
Out There
Color-changing resin material is heat-activated
April 22, 2024
Artist and designer Kim Mesches has unveiled his “Collection 5,” featuring garments made of a color-changing resin with a technology activated by heat. The material is a mix of thermochromic dyes, pigments and other ingredients, which are then mixed with hardened resin to create the garments. For example, on sunny days the garments change themselves …
Out There
U.K. firm launches second-generation invisibility shields
April 8, 2024
Following the successful development of functional invisibility shields in 2022, U.K.-based Invisibility Shield Co. has launched its second-generation invisibility shields on Kickstarter. Among the products is the “Megashield,” which the company claims is the largest one ever created. According to a report on designboom.com, more than four years ago the company focused on refining optical …
Out There
E-skin can produce tactile feedback
March 25, 2024
In recent years, materials scientists and engineers have introduced increasingly sophisticated materials for robotic and prosthetic applications, including a range of electronic skins, or e-skins, designed to sense the surrounding environment and artificially reproduce the sense of touch. As explained on techxplore.com, researchers at Tsinghua University in Beijing recently introduced a new dual-modal tactile e-skin that could …
Out There
Interactive pavilion knitted with smart yarns
February 26, 2024
An interactive installation that combined textile arts, smart materials and engineering and received a 2023 Black Rock City Honorarium at the 2023 Burning Man. Set against the vast and surreal backdrop of the Black Rock Desert in Nevada, Burning Man is an annual gathering that transforms the flat, barren expanse into a vibrant playground for artistic …
Out There
Augmented reality T-shirts demonstrated at Art Basel
January 15, 2024
Avery Dennison has completed a project with NRVLD, a community-based agency comprised of artists, technologists and media personalities supporting disruptive innovation. Innovation in Textiles reports that the company created limited edition augmented reality T-shirts worn by the NRVLD executive team during an immersive event held during Art Basel Miami Beach in December 2023. The 30 …
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What's New?
No-touch smart fabric device is introduced
March 24, 2025
Touch-sensitive clothing capable of controlling devices via touchscreen-like finger taps and swipes on the fabric is impressive, but a touchless finger-gesture-detecting fabric has now been developed that offers a new functionality. The experimental textile is being developed by scientists from Nottingham Trent University in the U.K., the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf research lab in Germany and the Free …
What's New?
Adaptable lining makes prosthetics more comfortable
March 24, 2025
British biomedical startup Unhindr, an Imperial College London spinoff company, is developing an adaptive lining for the sockets of prosthetic limbs that responds to how the body’s soft tissue naturally shrinks and swells during the day. Because a prosthetic limb that fits in the morning may not fit the same way late in the afternoon, the …
What's New?
eVent announces new high-performance weather protection
March 10, 2025
eVent® Fabrics, Leawood, Kansas, a provider of waterproof, breathable and windproof fabric laminates, introduces its newest high-performance laminate, stormburstLT. An ultralight and ultra-breathable product, it’s designed for extreme applications: stormST for outdoor and lifestyle applications; and windstormST for breathable windproof and softshell applications. This completes eVent’s collection of laminates, providing brand partners with custom solutions …
What's New?
Smart pajama top can detect sleep disorders
March 10, 2025
A smart pajama top has been created to help detect sleep disorders and provide an alternative to visiting a sleep clinic. The garment, developed by Professor Luigi Occhipinti and colleagues at the University of Cambridge, U.K., is integrated with a series of graphene strain sensors that sense subtle vibrations in the neck muscles, even when …
What's New?
Medical textiles have infection protection
February 24, 2025
In collaboration with the German technology group Heraeus, the German Institutes of Textile and Fiber Research (DITF) are developing fibers and textiles with a novel infection protection system. The basis is an antimicrobial mechanism of action licensed from Heraeus and marketed under the name AGXX. The goal of the collaboration is to optimally integrate the …
What's New?
LOOMIA and AFFOA collaborate on a new textile heater
February 10, 2025
Brooklyn, N.Y.-based LOOMIA, provider of electronic textiles and flexible electronics, and the Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (AFFOA), have introduced the Gentoo Heater, which has been engineered to perform in ultra-cold environments. According to AFFOA, a non-profit Manufacturing USA Institute driving fabric-based innovation in the U.S., the next-generation heater is a thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU)-based resistive heater that …
What's New?
Shielding suit by Vollebak deflects radio waves
February 10, 2025
Vollebak has released the Shielding Suit, a wearable technology made with pure silver that blocks radio waves so no one can track, hack, or call the users. The silver-added suit, which shares the same electromagnetic shielding technology that NASA has used for its Mars Rover, blocks electromagnetic radiation and shields users from infrared cameras. Comprised of a jacket and pants, the suit deflects …
What's New?
Vest designed to safeguard astronauts from radiation
January 13, 2025
The latest issue of Upward, official magazine of the International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory, highlights the AstroRad vest, a pioneering wearable technology designed to safeguard astronauts from harmful solar radiation during deep-space missions. Developed through a collaboration between StemRad and Lockheed Martin, the vest has undergone extensive testing through the ISS National Lab, leading …
What's New?
Manta rays inspire a fast-swimming soft robot
January 13, 2025
A team of researchers has beaten its own record for the fastest swimming soft robot, drawing inspiration from manta rays to improve their ability to control the robot’s movement in the water. “Two years ago, we demonstrated an aquatic soft robot that was able to reach average speeds of 3.74 body lengths per second,” says …
What's New?
Moisture sensors for textile manufacturing
January 13, 2025
MoistTech Corp., Sarasota, Fla., a global provider of moisture measurement technologies, highlights its IR3000 series moisture sensors for the textile and nonwoven industries. These state-of-the-art sensors, featuring Near Infrared (NIR) technology, offer accuracy and reliability in moisture analysis, which, the company says, significantly enhances product quality, productivity and energy efficiency throughout the textile manufacturing process. …
