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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Serendipity happens

February 11, 2019  |  My Take

Sometimes when an article possibility doesn’t materialize, it presents a moment of serendipity. I needed someone who could speak from experience and answer questions about intellectual property (IP) law, the importance of patents and related subjects. If you’re like me, you’d think first of pa…
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Read the hangtags

January 9, 2019  |  My Take

My job is impacting my personal life in a somewhat unusual way: I chronically read hangtags on textile products. Clothing, housewares and especially outdoor gear get a close look. Are these flannel lounge pants 100 percent cotton? They better be. … Just how water resistant is this water-resistant …
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Today’s tree huggers

December 10, 2018  |  My Take

There was a time when terms such as “ecology,” “sustainability,” “environmentalist” and “eco-friendly” belonged to a group (perceived to be small) of “tree-huggers” with ideas that many thought were radical, unnecessary or even just silly. However, I don’t think this was ever a…
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What I think about Expo this year – and every year

November 12, 2018  |  My Take

Every Expo is different. But I’ve attended nine of them now, and every year I see something new, meet someone I didn’t know previously, get a better understanding of new technology and products, make crucial connections for future articles in Advanced Textiles Source—and have a good time. I ge…
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Define “natural”

October 8, 2018  |  My Take

The ability of the industry to engineer fabrics for specific purposes has been growing, and has been well documented on this site, I might add. In fact, fabrics can be engineered to do just about anything the end application needs. However, there are tradeoffs, and some of them involve sustainabilit…
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How can a textile be protective?

September 10, 2018  |  My Take

For the uninitiated, the idea that fabric can be “protective” may seem like an oxymoron. We know, however, that protective textiles of many kinds play crucial roles in a range of applications. But that’s hardly news to you. What may be news is the growth of the safety and protective textiles m…
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The right word

August 20, 2018  |  My Take

As a writer it’s irksome to run out of words to say what you want to say. I don’t run out of words, generally, but sometimes I can’t find just the right word to say exactly what I mean. In the English language, you would think that would never happen, but I use a handful … <div><a href=…
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The case for R and D investment

August 6, 2018  |  My Take

The following is a letter to the editor of Specialty Fabrics Review by Donald L. Sturgeon, Ph.D., president of Multifibers LLC. It is in response to an article I wrote for the Review about IFAI’s Smart Fabrics Conference in April 2018. I found Mr. Sturgeon’s letter particularly interesting – …
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