Wearables lead protective market advances

December 15, 2025  |  Features

Protective clothing is becoming smarter, with e-textiles bringing new capability in health and environmental monitoring that’s paired with location tracking to offer protection for workers in hazardous locations. At E-Textiles 2025 in Lille, France, a number of European advances were presented aro…
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Niche markets for protective clothing

December 8, 2025  |  Features

You may have wondered about “niche markets,” and why they are important. A niche market essentially specializes in a smaller area of a broader market. That niche allows you to create a more focused business so you can establish a loyal customer base because you are concentrating on your customer…
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Emerging Technologies Conference 2025: Part II

November 17, 2025  |  Features

Sustainability in the textiles industry is a growing concern with changing regulations and global supply chains. New technologies and processes, however, are blossoming to replace materials considered toxic, reduce water consumption and create safer environments for workers and consumers. Meanwhile,…
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Emerging Technologies Conference at ATA Expo 2025

November 10, 2025  |  Features

The Advanced Textiles Association Emerging Technologies Conference (ETC) in Indianapolis, Ind., Nov. 4. offered attendees real-world mechanisms for moving their businesses forward in a changing industry landscape. Two presentations dealt with entities established specifically to support research and…
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Functionality under the radar

October 27, 2025  |  Features

Functional textiles are the wave of the future, having huge growth prospects that will influence the survival and growth of the global textiles sector. Market analysis firms have, in recent years, been actively estimating the size of this sector. The field is varied, and hence the type of functional…
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Doing business with the U.S. Military

October 13, 2025  |  Features

There are always questions regarding how a company would introduce a product into the U.S. military marketplace, and for those who have tried to do so, many of these attempts have been met with bewilderment, frustration and resignation. Case studies and examples abound across a wide range of technol…
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How natural can technical textiles be?

September 22, 2025  |  Features

According to a recent report by the United Nations, the progress towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 has been slow. It is alarming to note that about 18 percent of the 139 targets are showing regression below the 2015 levels. Governments must have swift action plans to sup…
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Test tube textiles

September 8, 2025  |  Features

The creation of sustainable textiles has been top-of-mind for the textile industry since the 1990s. Along with recycled polyester and circular textile-to-textile manufacturing, fibers created in the lab from bio-based inputs are also finding a place in an expanding menu of innovative textile fibers.…
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3D construction in textiles

August 22, 2025  |  Features

Editor’s note: Early in my career writing about functional textiles, the board chair of what was then the Industrial Fabrics Association International walked me through the JEC show, running concurrent with our Expo. He gestured around the displays, most of them featuring rigid composites, and sai…
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The sustainability equation

August 11, 2025  |  Features

The textile sector in general is dependent on petroleum-based products—including fibers, synthetic chemicals and many accessories—and, importantly, the advanced textiles sector is heavily dependent on synthetic materials. Physical and functionality requirements, such as high strength, and chemic…
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