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Smart textiles

A conductive yarn that can be woven or knitted into washable, interactive textiles, which can be used as capacitive touch sensors, has been developed by Google.

A team led by researchers from Tufts University of Medford, Massachusetts, USA, has developed a prototype bandage designed to monitor the condition of chronic wounds actively and deliver appropriat

Textile-Based Delivery Inc (TexDel) of Conover, North Carolina, USA, has received a US$1 million award from

A method for applying flexible carbon nanotube (CNT)-containing composite coatings to fibres,  including cotton, polyamide (PA) and wool, could be enable the production of smart textiles.

A researcher team led by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Professor of Materials Science and Electrical Engineering, and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of

Flat-knitting specialist Stoll exhibited jointly with partner Myant at the Texprocess Americas exhibition in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, on 22–24 May 2

At Techtextil North America (TTNA) in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, on 22–24 May 2018, ZSK Technical Embroidery Systems of Krefeld, Germany, demonstrated its embroidery technologies for adding sm

CREOL – the College of Optics & Photonics at The University of Central Florida (UCF) has worked with specialist fibre manufacturer Hills Inc to develop a user-controlled, colour-changing fabric

The second edition of the Smart Fabrics Summit, co-hosted by the Industrial Fabrics Association International (IFAI) and the US Department of Commerce, demonstrated the advancements in thi

Developers grapple with the challenges of realizing smart fabrics

Three US companies aiming to make smart fabric products a reality reveal to John McCurry the reasons that their sector has yet to exploit its full potential despite the continued interest shown by consumers and apparel manufacturers.

Prototype strain-sensing knitted textiles developed in Australia could be used for compression garments that monitor professional athletes during competition or to allow patients to track and compi

A conductive composite yarn for making smart fabrics and garments has been developed by Supreme Corp of Conover, North Carolina, USA.

Fabrics woven from a combination of poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and conductive carbon fibres that are able to track body movement for human–machine interfaces have b

With the goal of bringing together industry and research institutes to share their knowledge of smart textiles and high-performance materials, the second Saltex event will take place in Do

W.L. Gore is working with start-up company Bonbouton to develop practical smart fabrics for healthcare applications.

Bekaert—a specialist in metal and metal alloy textiles

Founded in 1880, Bekaert of Zwevegem, Belgium, has grown to become a worldwide company with around 30 000 employees specializing in steel wire and coating technologies. For more than 40 years, an important part of this activity has been in developing, making and supplying metal/metal alloy fibres, textiles and semi-finished products, reports Nick Butler.

Ink and film technology for the production of self-heating garments has been launched by DuPont Advanced Materials.

Just days after announcing a collaboration agreement with a global textiles and apparel manufacturer which will focus on the incorporation of graphene into fabrics, Versarien of Cheltenham, UK, is

German machine manufacturer Stoll and Canadian smart fabrics manufacturer Myant are working together to roll-out 500 three-dimensional (3D) knitting machines for the manufacture of electronic texti

Sensorskin is a thin and stretchable material with considerable potential to advance the effectiveness of smart fabrics, according to its developer.

Flexible and stretchable microbial fuel cells (MFCs) have been applied to a single-layer textile substrate by researchers at Binghamton University in New York, USA. 

Myant’s Skiin claimed the award for Best New Wearable Technology Device at the recent IDTechEx Show for emerging technologies held on 15–17 November 2017 in Santa Clara, Californi

Graphene Plus (G+) membranes and printed fabrics manufactured by Directa Plus of of Lomazzo have received international certification from Complife Italia, the independent toxicity testing organisa

Electric GT has announced a partnership with Bcomp to replace some traditional carbon fibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP) panels on its racing car with translucent natural fibre-reinforced alternatives

Teijin Frontier Co Ltd of Tokyo, Japan, has developed a polytrimethylene terephthalate (PTT) fibre (Solotex Thermo) that it says demonstrates “excellent” thermal retention and insulation capabiliti

Washable, stretchable and breathable electronic circuits have been successfully incorporated into fabrics at the Cambridge Graphene Centre in the UK. 

Researchers at Stanford University in California, USA, have developed a reversible fabric that, without expending effort or energy, keeps skin at a comfortable temperature whatever the weather.

Rainbow Seed Fund, an early-stage venture capital fund focused on building technology companies from research carried out in the UK, is providing seed investment to Pireta, a smart textiles company

A smart fabric developed with funding from Google at the University of Washington (UW) in Seattle, USA, could make keys obsolete.

Developer of smart fabrics and wearable computing technologies Myant of Toronto, Canada, has committed around US$80 million (CAD$100 million) to a proposed advanced manufacturing supercluster in Ca

A flexible nonwoven supercapacitor that could power wearable devices has been developed by researchers in the USA and South Korea using a simple layer-by-layer nanocoating technique.

Microphones small enough to be almost invisible to the naked eye are being knitted into the fabric covering army helmets to reduce the risk of soldiers developing hearing injuries.

A technique for creating electrically heated fabrics based on a vapour deposition nanocoating process is being developed at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in he USA.

New students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, USA, have received a surprise gift on enrolling in 2017—a backpack that when scanned with a smartphone can display a pr

A solid-state flexible supercapacitor has been manufactured by using conductive graphene oxide ink to print electrodes onto cotton fabric by researchers at the University of Manchester in the UK.

A highly sensitive soft capacitive sensor made of silicone and fabric moves and flexes with the human body to unobtrusively and accurately detect movement.

Xenoma, a spin-out from the University of Tokyo in Japan, has just launched a pre-consumer version of its e-skin shirt on Kickstarter.

An ultra-thin energy harvesting system that could be incorporated into clothing is able to effectively power mobile telephones, fitness trackers and other personal devices via simple movements.

Intexar is the new brand from DuPont of Wilmington, Delaware, USA, for smart clothing technology based on stretchable electronic inks and films.

Researchers headed by Frank Clemens from the Laboratory for High-Performance Ceramics at Empa in Dübendorf, Switzerland, have developed a sensor made of piezoresistive fibres and have incorporated

Directa Plus Lomazzo has entered into a joint development agreement (JDA) with Lonate Pozzolo headquartered Alfredo Grassi SpA (both in Italy) for the incorporation of the former's G+ graphene into

The stress levels of aeroplane pilots are to be monitored using smart textiles as part of a major European research project involving Nottingham Trent University in the UK.

In the treatment of chronic wounds, nursing staff have to change a dressing regularly—not just for reasons of hygiene, but also to examine the wound, take swabs and clean it.

Smart-fabrics company Footfalls & Heartbeats (UK) is working with Germany-based KOB, a manufacturer of bandages and fabrics, to improve compression therapy using smart fibres.

A programmable backpack and a baseball cap with integrated light-emitting diode (LED) lighting are the first products to be launched by the US$300 million Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (AF

Rokoko of Copenhagen, Denmark, has launched its Smartsuit Pro, which it claims will make motion capture, animation and three-dimensional (3D) effects more accessible. 

A team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, USA, has designed a breathable workout suit with ventilating flaps that open and close in response to changes

ElderSens has launched a wearable sensors network technology to alert assisted care staff via an SMS (short message service) text message when incontinence products need to be changed.

Smart fabric specialist BeBop Sensors of Berkeley, California, USA is launching its Marcel Modular Data Gloves for companies in the virtual reality/augmented reality (VR/AR) markets.

Commonplace connectivity

With its theme of ‘Connecting the Future’, it was only to be expected that smart fabrics – together with many complementary Industry 4.0 developments in automation, connectivity and digitized processing – would be prominently featured at this year’s Techtextil and Texprocess shows held together in Frankfurt, Germany, on 9–12 June 2017, and this certainly turned out to be the case. Adrian Wilson reports. 

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