10 Innovative material trends
While the last ten years have seen a fusion of textiles and technology, the shift is now moving towards science and nature, where materials play a key environmental role in the design and lifecycle of a product, embracing nanotechnology and biomimicry.
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Textile innovationSmart textiles
Fabrics with added easy-care and well-being properties for performance-enhanced garments.
Invisible finishings, nanotechnology and micro-encapsulation create textiles with water and stain-resistance, antibacterial, deodorising or thermo-regulating properties, which require low maintenance and less laundering for simplified lifestyles and ecological benefits.
Interfilière fabric innovations: wellbeing -
Techtextil/Avantex: Environmental concernsSustainable and renewable fibres
Man-made fibres derived from alternative sources to non-renewable fossil fuels.
Depleting finite resources has driven the industry to explore renewable or regenerated materials, such as bamboo, cornstarch, milk protein, soya and coconut shell, which alongside ecological benefits, have inherent properties such as antibacterial, breathable, moisture wicking and a soft, smooth handle.
Smart denim: fabric and fibre innovations -
Nanotechnologies and smart textiles for industry and fashionNanotechnology
The science of manipulating atoms and molecules to physically alter or modify the cloth or engineer new fabrics.
With potentially limitless applications, nanotechnology is enabling materials to be engineered to exact specifications or infused with permanent non-evasive performance qualities, such as self-cleaning, bulletproof, moisture-responsive or super-strong lightweights.
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iPod fashionWearable electronics
The integration of electronics within garments for methods of communication, entertainment, light and energy sources or aesthetic values.
In making technology mobile, the function of clothing has been enhanced, using flexible control panels and concealed or wireless electronics that can support iPod or Bluetooth hardware, LED light sources, solar panels or shape memory alloys.
Conference: 100% intelligent textiles -
Techno Textiles book
A comprehensive book that documents the emergence of technologically-enhanced textiles within fashion, design and architecture.
Published a decade ago, this was one of the first books that provided an in-depth and inspiration look at the dynamic new innovations happening within textiles, exploring themes of electronics, engineering and special finishes for aesthetic and performance applications.
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Digital printing starts to make an impressionDigital printing
The process of printing onto fabric using computer-aided software and machinery.
The technology has allowed for greater flexibility within the design process, enabling complex designs in unlimited colours to be printed to almost photoreal standards onto fabric, with less dyeing and finishing, no waste, and with the capacity to print large volumes in a short timeframe.
Digital printing on fabric creates a revolution -
MA Textile Futures graduate show 2005MA Textile Futures
A postgraduate textiles degree at Chelsea College of Art and Design, London.
This course has pioneered an interactive and interdisciplinary way of working that allows designers to explore their own unique vision of future textiles; embracing science, technology and responsibility for sustainable design.
MA Textile Futures graduate show 2008 -
d3o material: flexible protectiond3o impact material
A thin and flexible material that stiffens on impact to provide protection, and returns back to its flexible state.
This material is responsible for a revolutionary shift in the style of protective clothing, as it is barely noticeable when worn, and allows for a freedom of movement and breathability not possible in conventional hard protection.
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Rapid prototyping: future manufactureRapid prototyping
A hi-tech method of 3D printing that translates three-dimensional computer models into physical objects without waste.
This revolutionary method of fabrication is changing the way we design, allowing new ideas to be materialised quickly and creating intricate and complex forms not possible with traditional techniques.
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Seasonal influences: fabricsClosed-loop recycling
The process of recycling industry waste and discarded garments into new yarn, which closes the loop of a product's lifecycle
Innovative developments within fibre reclamation, such as the EcoCircle scheme by Japanese fibre company Teijin, enables polyester fabric to be broken down to molecular level to create virgin-quality fibre, requiring less energy and CO2 and reducing the need for new fibre production.
Material developments: ispo
