The first boards for gliding over snow existed as early as 1900, but it was not until 1963 that American surfers brought the feeling of surfing to the snow and developed the original snowboard—the so-called snurfer. A few years later, the snowboard drew the interest of the winter sports industry, and since 1998, snowboarding has been recognized as an Olympic sport.
Chemnitz University of Technology researchers have presented an innovation from the 2020/2021 winter sports season: Together with silbaerg GmbH, a spin-off from the Institute of Lightweight Structures at Chemnitz University of Technology, they have developed a lightweight snowboard that can also be manufactured far more sustainably than comparable boards. This is made possible by a new type of textile fiber, a semi-finished product made of carbon fibers. By using the dry fiber placement process, fiber waste in snowboard production can be reduced by around 60%. “This not only saves costs, but thanks to the board’s sustainable production, its carbon footprint is also significantly reduced,” says Prof. Dr. Holger Cebulla, head of the Chair of Textile Technologies.
For my final line-up I would love to use some smart fabrics and after having a look around I found a lot that I think would be great to use.
Temperature sensitive fabrics Clothings main job is to keep up warm or cool so it makes sense that the smart material industry is looking into making fabrics that can regulate body temperature. These types of fabrics are mostly seen in windbreakers and beanies. Junor Campbell design and development manager for Mountain Designs says its hats, beanies and jackets are often treated with paraffins.“Paraffin changes its character. As you get hot it becomes more liquid and all that heat to pass out,” says Campbell. “As the body gets cold it solidifies and keeps heat back with the wearer.” Other fabrics that are also starting to appear are ones that conduct electricity to monitor your body temperature but because they are still so new they are very expensive but one company that wants to launch in this market with a more reasonable price range, Australian Wool Innovators, want to make socks that will be able to keep your toes toastie at 30 degrees centigrade but also feel like any other sock and being washable.
Odour Eaters There are also fabrics that are being developed that are suited for more health reasons, fabrics with anti-bacterial treatments. Materials that are treated with silver seem to be working best and the garment that seems to be best for this type of fabric is underwear, you can treat underwear with anti-bacterial but it washed out but they have found that if it has silver added to it, the same effect happens but it is permanent. Microencapsulation technology, which allows a whole swathe of substances including aloe vera, vitamins or insect repellents to be added to the fabric, is creating endless possibilities.
Medical Material Microencapsulated fabrics is best for medical treatments, mainly in the natural health sector. Materials with vitamin E are great for scarring and theres also a good market in materials for diabetes and improving circulation. There has been development in smart fabrics called bio-therapeutic textiles where they look to isolating the chemical properties of gold fly maggots that are known to combat wound infection, this could be extremely useful when it comes to dressings and bandages. For electrically conductive smart fabrics there is a much greater medical use, for example, in hospitals they could be used to create life vests that would monitor your heart rate, ECG and body temperature and you could have every patient wearing one with the results all going back to the nurses in a central office to be monitored. Though it would be a very long time until this could be seen as a reality because this type of technology is still extremely expensive.
The all-white clothes range for Wimbledon, designed by Stella McCartney, is also going green by using recycled materials.
In this new range of tennis-wear Adidas and McCartney are taking steps towards sustainability by creating the clothes out of recycled polyester, a synthetic fibre created using waste materials like plastic bottles and previously used clothing items that have been cleaned and processed again to turn them into new fibres ready for a new purpose.
As well as using recycled polyester, the collection is also made by using parley ocean plastic, which is a material developed from upcycled plastic waste which was picked up and hindered from entering the oceans at beaches and coastal areas before being turned into yarn, according to a press release.
Not only is the clothes made from recycled materials, with a better environmental footprint, but the technology used to create the range – dope dye technology – is also greening the line. The method wastes less water by incorporating colour directly into the material mix at the beginning stage in the production process.
‘Therefore, when the fibre is formed, it is already the desired colour and as a result, reduces wastewater by at least 10 litres per garment,’ the release stated.
The range, sold by Adidas, is available to purchase online now and the range can be seen on Wimbledon players such as Angelique Kerber, Caroline Wozniacki and Alexander Zverev.
Often, the findings of fundamental scientific research are many steps away from a product that can be immediately brought to the public. But every once in a while, opportunity makes an early appearance.
Such was the case for a team from the Department of Energy’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), whose outside-the-box thinking when investigating microbe-based biomanufacturing led straight to an eco-friendly production platform for a blue pigment called indigoidine. With a similar vividly saturated hue as synthetic indigo, a dye used around the world to color denim and many other items, the team’s fungi-produced indigoidine could provide an alternative to a largely environmentally unfriendly process.
“Originally extracted from plants, most indigo used today is synthesized,” said lead researcher Aindrila Mukhopadhyay, who directs the Host Engineering team at JBEI. “These processes are efficient and inexpensive, but they often require toxic chemicals and generate a lot of dangerous waste. With our work we now have a way to efficiently produce a blue pigment that uses inexpensive, sustainable carbon sources instead of harsh precursors. And so far, the platform checks many of the boxes in its promise to be scaled-up for commercial markets.”
The ornately embroidered phulkari is a shared tradition for women across Punjabi social classes and religions. Most of the works on display in “Phulkari: The Embroidered Textiles of Punjab from the Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz Collection” pre-date the devastating 1947 Partion of the Punjab region into modern day India and Pakistan. The religious division, mass migration, and loss of life leading up to and after the Partition forced many families to leave behind their treasured phulkaris. Despite such upheaval, phulkaris remain a significant symbol of Punjabi identity.
No, your computer screen isn’t freaking out. They are in fact, blankets! Yes, glitch blankets. Does this make you as gitty as me? :)
Phillip is a digital artist and textile designer based in Brooklyn NY. He’s the creator of the YearoftheGlitch, where he posts countless textiles for sale. He “transcode glitches in the cold, hard logic of digital circuits into soft, warm textiles.”
He writes, “Following a successful funding campaign on Kickstarter in 2012, Glitch Textiles has grown to include a range of woven and knit wall hangings and blankets whose patterns are generated using images taken with short circuited cameras and other unorthodox digital techniques, including data visualization aided by the use of tools developed for digital forensics. For the time being, everything is run by yours truly, though I have to credit my robot weavers and their human overlords in NC and NJ, at Pure Country Weavers and Photothrow.com. You have their guarantee and mine that all products are manufactured here in the US.”
I can’t decide which one is my favorite - I love them all.
This week, our American Sign Language (ASL) Tours are back and in-person at the Museum!
We’ll explore the multilayered installations, sculptures, photographs and textiles that fill “Baseera Khan: I Am an Archive.” Discover how Baseera Khan uses their own body to visualize the lived experience of people at the intersection of Muslim and American identities.
Guests from the D/deaf community are invited to join us for this tour on March 26 at 2 pm. Register here: https://bit.ly/3ccftZk
insane how many people just have these incredible artists in their families who get no recognition outside of crocheting circles because this art form is devalued for its association with women
Firstly why is this a discussion? Because the demand for organic and preferred cotton is growing; ensuring support for non-GM sustainable alternatives will give farmers a choice and protect their ability to have market access.
According to a new Textile Exchange Pan-Africa Sourcing Working Group white paper,
“Cotton in Africa: Sustainability at a Crossroads,”
So Fashion Made in Nigeria has seemed to almost erupt over the last few years and the gorgeous handmade textiles are being recognised more and more and this is what I want to briefly highlight. So lets dive in.
ADIRE Now can I get personal for a minute? I personally LOVE Nigerian textiles with Adire being one that totally calls me out. Since the turn of the twentieth century, in Abeokuta, a center…
I have mentioned on many occasions that there are three major questions that I get asked all the time and why I started my business. But let me share the two major questions I get asked repeatedly as an African Fashion Business Coach. They are
Which country should I set up my fashion business? AND Where can I source XYZ in Africa?
So many gurus say it is impossible to source textiles in Africa, that you cannot make quality fashion there, that its unreliable and people only want to rip you off.
NOW with the influx of people travelling to Africa last year and getting “inspired” and seeing “opportunity”… YES you can open up yourself to opportunists and why I do encourage you to travel to Africa with us on our Fashion Africa…
Flying geese with pieced backing. All cotton, second hand fabrics (except the dark blue of the backing which i bought new for a different project), cotton batting. Corduroy binding.
Time flies and it’s a while ago now, but thanks a lot for those who visited our degree show last summer. Fortunately I could exhibit my handspun yarns and woven scarves next to the windows from which visitors could see the beautiful hills of Bath - inspiration source of the works. There also on the show were a book of watercolour drawings of seasonal hill views and a book of the back story introducing different breeds of wool, plant dyes, and how they were processed. And some vintage tools I love. I hope you enjoyed my work and other fabulous works by my friend designers!
