Functional Textiles

Nearly 70% of textile products could, with existing technology, be recycled today. That figure did not land as a reason for optimism at Performance Days' March edition this year in Munich. It landed as a diagnosis. The industry has the tools. What it lacks is the data infrastructure, the coordination, and the design fluency to make those tools work at the scale the market requires.

Smart textiles capable of monitoring vital signs, resisting bacteria and storing solar energy are the focus of growing research interest. A review of research on MXenes, microscopic two-dimensional materials that can be printed onto fabrics, suggests clothing could function as real-time health monitors while also serving as flexible power sources for wearable electronics.

A new study demonstrates how cotton can be transformed into e-textiles using inkjet printing with carbon nanotubes and reactive silver ink. This dual-ink approach delivers high conductivity, washability, and heat resistance while preserving the comfort of fabric. Demonstrated applications include sensors integrated into socks to track motion and gloves providing steady warmth, highlighting practical pathways for wearable healthcare and lifestyle technologies.

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University has unveiled pioneering personal cooling technologies designed to address rising global heat stress. By merging advanced textiles with intelligent wearables, researchers are reimagining comfort, health, and productivity in a warming world.

Researchers for the first time have successfully and unobtrusively integrated into the core of a smart textile braid magnetic sensitivity which can be used for human-computer interactions, in a mechanically resilient and conformal way, making them suitable for everyday use.

A group of researchers has crafted an AI-enabled jacket with an electronic textile that warms the user without overheating and provides immediate temperature readings for easy monitoring.

The German Institutes of Textile and Fiber Research (DITF) and tech company, Heraeus, are researching to reduce the risk of infection from medical workwear. This forms the basis for future industrial production of textiles for durable and reliable protection against infection.

And now a multifunctional sensor based on semiconductor fibres that emulates the five human senses and is expected to be utilised in a variety of state-of-the-art technology fields such as wearables, Internet of Things (IoT), electronic devices, and soft robotics.

The highly flammable attributes of the most commonly used cotton textile can be checked with a new single-step, cost-efficient complex coating devised by researchers at the Texas A&M University.

Israel’s Shenkar, an academic institution, has developed an innovative polymeric fibre or thread, that aims to assist future soldiers on the battlefield in dealing with toxic gas attacks by changing the colour of their clothing from yellow to green.