Spider Webs, Grass & Nanotubes – Behold the Brave New U.S. Textile Industry

It is tempting to think textile development hit its apex in 1873, when Jacob Davis and Levi Strauss invented denim blue jeans. What is more perfect than a worn pair of Levi’s?

It’s equally as easy to posit that advances in fabric – at least from a fashion-conscious consumer perspective – hit their nadir sometime in the late 1920s, when Wallace Carothers tinkered with what became polyester. Many of us remember the disastrous effects polyester had on 1970s shirts.

Both those notions, however, are horribly misplaced.

Innovation continues apace in textile design and development. Much of these advancements – building on the pioneering polymer work of Stephanie Kwolek, who invented Kevlar while at DuPont in the 1960s – are geared toward military applications, including lighter, stronger body armor. Other new fabrics and materials are finding their way far afield of apparel and into the reaches of auto racing, medicine, construction and energy production.

Strength, durability, fire-resistance and elasticity are major areas of focus today. Kuraray‘s polyarylate fiber Vectran, for example, is used in everything from heavy-duty ropes and cables to NASA space suits. A couple of years ago, a small tear in one of those suits found after an International Space Station mission prompted changes in spacewalk procedures and underscored the need to develop even newer textile innovations.

Much of today’s cutting-edge fabric and textile experimentation is occurring in the United States, spurred by globalization and fierce R&D competition from Europe and Asia.

That the United States remains a textile player may seem counterintuitive, considering more than 250 domestic textile plants closed between 2004 and 2009.
Within that same span, the U.S. textile and apparel industry shed some 300,000 workers, a 42 percent drop, according to the National Council of Textile Organizations, an industry trade and lobby group.

Technology, trade laws and low-cost overseas labor are shrinking the demand for low-skilled U.S. wage earners. Yet creativity, research and development, and innovation can still be homegrown.

Last year, the Ben Franklin Technology Development Authority funded nearly $1.3 million to establish the Pennsylvania Advanced Textile Research and Innovation Center.

This year, at the second annual Multi-Brand Environment, Safety & Health and Restricted Substance List Factory Summit, U.S.-based Dow Corning Corp. was among those showcasing innovations, including the company’s silicone textile printing inks. The inks contain no organotin, phthalate, formaldehyde, PVC or unhealthy solvents.

Also this year, Massachusetts  Institute of Technology researchers announced they developed a fabric that acts like a camera. The fibers, which each can detect two frequencies of light, produce signals that when amplified and processed by a computer can reproduce an image.

“This is the first time that anybody has demonstrated that a single plane of fibers, or ‘fabric,’ can collect images just like a camera but without a lens,” Yoel Fink, an associate professor of materials science, told the journal Nano Letters.

The development builds on Fink’s work in super breeds of fiber optics. Previously, doctors have used his tiny, fiber optic threads as lasers to remove tumors from patients without the need for anesthesia.

“The United States is leading the world in discovering new fibers and finding new uses for high-technology textiles,” reports the Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Biotechnology research is expected to lead to new sources of fibers, such as corn and other plants, and result in improvements in existing fibers.

“As these technologies and engineering advancements in textile production are implemented,” the BLS adds, “the need will grow for more highly skilled workers who can work in an increasingly high-technology environment.”

With that in mind, we have compiled the some of the latest innovations on the domestic textile front.
 

The folks at Supreme Corp. say its Tuff-n-Lite fabric is as “soft as cotton, stronger than steel.” The North Carolina company blends super-strong synthetics such as Dyneema, Spectra and Twaron with its own proprietary ultra high molecular weight polyethylene fibers to produce cut-resistant fabric for military, police, safety and extreme sports apparel. On tap: stab- and fire-resistant material for soft body armor and other applications.
 

Is that a taggant in your trousers? Tennessee-based Fiber Innovation Technology is embedding microscopic markers inside threads to protect against knock-offs. The markers or taggants identify the manufacturer, assuring consumers they’re getting the real deal. Some taggant pigments light up under laser wands. In the not too distant future, the company hopes to have taggants made of edible compounds that can be sprayed on agricultural products and pharmaceuticals. These micro identifiers would make it easier to isolate tainted products in the event of government-mandated recalls.
 

Spider silk is lighter, more elastic and – pound for pound – tougher than Kevlar. For decades, scientists have been trying to get arachnids to produce the stuff in bulk, much like silkworms have done for centuries. Unlike silkworms, however, spiders resist domestication and tend to eat each other when confined in groups.

North Carolina-based EntoGenetics says it has discovered a way to infuse the spider’s gene into the silkworm, creating a creature that can spin strong, spider-like silk en mass without all the internecine insect violence. Possible uses: bullet-resistant vests, rope, parachutes, fine fabrics, medical sutures, ligament replacement and racing tires.
 

Eczema. Psoriasis. Dermatitis. Poison ivy. The mere words can send some reaching for a shot of corticosteroid. North Carolina-based Precision Fabrics Group has unveiled a line of “therapeutic” bedding and other linens under the brand DermaTherapy for those with ultra-sensitive skin. According to one of the company’s 36 U.S. patents, its fabric also “provides a barrier to mite-induced allergen particles.” The Food and Drug Administration-approved line of bedding minimizes friction, reduces itching and is super soft. Take that, Egyptian cotton.
 

Since at least 1989, U.S. researchers have been tinkering with kenaf, a fast-growing, high-yield fiber plant related to cotton and okra. Historically, the main uses of kenaf fiber have been rope, twine, course cloth (the Egyptians used it to make sails) and paper. Indeed, much of the domestic focus has been on using kenaf for eco-friendly “treeless” paper production. But 3F, yet another North Carolina company, is thinking bigger thoughts. It is developing a version of treated kenaf to make lighter, stronger precast concrete for bridges, buildings and the like. The lighter the precast concrete, the less fuel it takes to truck it to work sites. And the stronger the precast concrete, of course, the safer it is. The company also is turning kenaf into a bio-renewable replacement for fiberglass.
 

Nanocomp Technologies of New Hampshire is making long non-woven textiles out of carbon nanotubes, hexagonally shaped arrangements of carbon atoms that have been rolled into, well, tubes. The company fabricates nanotubes into strong, lightweight electro-thermally conductive yarn and sheets. The goal: Make high efficiency super-capacitors for thermal-electric or heat-to-power generation. Nanotube materials also could dramatically reduce the weight and payload of electrical and structural systems in aircraft, making them more fuel efficient.