Natural is back

June 8, 2026  |  My Take

There was a time—and it wasn’t that long ago, historically speaking—when what we call “natural” fibers were the only fibers. Wool, cotton, flax, silk, for the most part. These were (and still are) amazing fibers for covering a range of textile demands.
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Smarter and bigger – much bigger

May 12, 2026  |  My Take

When smart textiles (originally, just “e-textiles”) first emerged, the focus was, understandably, on small applications, especially what we came to call “wearables.” All that meant was that a conductive element had been incorporated into the textile in some fashion, which allowed for sensing…
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Truly groundbreaking

April 27, 2026  |  My Take

When I started as an editor for ATA, my focus was fabric graphics. When I started working on our flagship print, Specialty Fabrics Review, I got to know the full range of markets and applications in the industrial (or functional) fabrics industry. Increasingly, I was drawn to the high-tech end of th…
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Immediate needs 

March 9, 2026  |  My Take

In the time between starting to write this blog post and completing it, the U.S. went to war. The events that certain protective textiles markets prepare for are underway, and the textile products used in supporting this effort are now engaged in performing as planned.
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Big questions: bigger rewards

February 9, 2026  |  My Take

If I have learned one thing while working in the textiles industry, it is that innovative solutions are in the making all the time. If this industry can figure out how to make a single fiber conductive, so that a shirt can monitor vital signs 24-7, it can figure out how to make itself a friendlier p…
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Figuring it out

January 26, 2026  |  My Take

We would typically do either an end-of-year wrap up or a-look-forward-to-2026 feature in January. But this has not been a typical year. Our attention has not been allowed to land for long to contemplate the implications of an action taken by the current administration before another action pulls us …
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Protecting the protectors

December 15, 2025  |  My Take

With the proliferation of smart textiles and their new technologies and applications, one finds it relatively easy to pair almost any other topic we discuss in this publication with smart textiles in general, or e-textiles in particular.
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It’s a wrap!

November 10, 2025  |  My Take

I have been to several Advanced Textiles Association EXPOs and almost as many Emerging Textiles Conferences. The names of both have changed, but the focus on gathering the textile industry together remains the same.
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