Weaving the Future
[A] Alex Soza is a young Danish fashion designer. He says his ideas come to him in dreams: "I daydream. That's how I get ideas." One of his inventions, a jacket that stays suspended in the air like a balloon after it is taken off, arose from such a daydream. "I was on the subway," he explained, "and this picture of a floating jacket popped into my mind." Soza is one of many dreamers and pioneers who are turning textile fantasies into realities.
High-Tech Textiles
[B] Not long ago, all fibers that were used to make textiles came from natural sources: wool from the hair of sheep, cotton from the cotton plant, silk from silk worms. The first truly synthetic fiber didn't appear until 1935, when scientists at the DuPont Company invented nylon. Nylon is just one of various industrially produced substances called polymers. Polymers can be pulled into a thread, which makes them well suited for use in textile manufacturing.
[C] Synthetic textiles have come a long way since nylon. Kevlar, a textile that is stronger than steel, is used in bulletproof vests and in ropes used by astronauts. Coiled fibers are used in clothing that contracts in cold weather to keep someone warm, and expands in hot weather, creating small holes to keep someone cool. Other high-tech fibers can resist very high temperatures - perfect for firefighters and race-car drivers.
[D] Not all companies are forthcoming about their products for fear of having their ideas stolen. However, Hugues Vinchon, a manager at Dubar Warneton - a manufacturer of high-tech textiles in France - is happy to display some of his company's amazing synthetic fibers. There is an oil-eating textile that absorbs five times its weight in oil, and is perfect for cleaning up oil spills. Another absorbs vibrations;1 ? "Can you imagine a motorboat you can't hear?" he says. There is also an ordinary looking cloth bag that is completely water soluble,2 according to Vinchon. "It's strong enough to carry heavy objects. But if I dip it in boiling water, it disappears."
[E] Some high-tech textiles draw their inspiration from nature. Spider silk is a natural fiber that is five times as strong as steel. Unfortunately, spiders cannot be farmed as they will eat each other. The biotechnology firm Nexia has come up with a possible alternative to spider farming: They have inserted a spider gene into goats, thereby causing the goats to produce a milk that contains a protein required for spider silk. Nexia's head, Jeff Turner, is already dreaming of applications for the new fiber, named BioSteel. "Why use rockets to lift objects into orbit3 ? … Why not have a [big] satellite and dangle a rope down to Earth and pull them up? … [There's] not a rope that will hold its weight at that length - but spider silk with its high strength-to-weight ratio could."
Wearable Electronics
[F] Textiles have always been used in clothing. Modern, high-tech textiles may redefine what clothes are all about. "In the past, clothing protected us from the elements," says Ian Scott, head of technology for women's wear at department store Marks & Spencer. "Then clothing became about fashion. The future is about clothing that can do something for you. It's no longer passive. It's active." One example of this active clothing that he hopes to sell in the next few years is an "intelligent bra," a sports bra that can sense stress and adjust its dimensions to give perfect support. Another sports product is Komodo Technologies' smart sleeve for athletes. It has built-in sensors4 that measure your fitness and stress levels. The data can then be viewed on a smartphone app. The company is also researching ways the sleeve can help detect heart disease.
[G] Other wearable electronics are being pioneered at a design laboratory in London run by the European manufacturer Philips Electronics. They are in the planning stages for various high-tech products, including an "intelligent" electronic apron. This smart apron acts as a kind of remote-control device. It has a built-in microphone that allows the wearer to operate kitchen appliances using voice commands.
[H] While there are many interesting clothing innovations in the pipeline, few have hit the market. One that did was marketed a few years ago as the first wearable electronics jacket. The jacket, called the ICD+, sold for about a thousand dollars. It had an MP3 player and cell phone. Headphones were built into the hood, and it had a microphone in the collar. Clive van Heerden, director of the Intelligent Fibres group of Philips Design, pointed out that it was an early first step, and a conservative one: "We want to make the jacket that makes the coffee and picks up the kids and keeps track of the shopping list, but it's not going to happen overnight."
Future Warriors
[I] One of the most important areas of clothing innovation is for the military. High-tech textiles are everywhere at the U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center in Natick, Massachusetts. As part of their Future Warrior program, researchers are developing uniforms that will make a soldier difficult or impossible to see. Fibers in the uniform would take on the same color, brightness, and patterns of the wearer's surroundings. A soldier dressed in such a uniform would become nearly invisible to the enemy.
[J] In addition to clothing innovations, the researchers at Natick are also working on portable buildings made of what are essentially large, high-strength textile balloons. This "airbeam" technology would allow a team to build a hangar5 in a fraction of the time it would take to build one out of metal. The largest air filled beams, about 0.75 meters in diameter and 24 meters long, are so rigid that you can hang a heavy truck from one. Whereas a conventional metal hangar takes ten people five days to set up, one made of airbeams can be set up by just six people in two days.
[K] Today's textile innovations are astonishing. From Alex Soza's artistic jacket to smart aprons to invisible military uniforms, high-tech textiles will soon be appearing in more and more places. Who can foresee what these textile innovators will dream up next? "It's about imagination!" says Soza, with a bright look in his eye. "It's a beautiful dream! It's turning science fiction into scientific fact!"
1 A vibration is a small, fast, and continuous shaking movement.
2 If something is water soluble, it will dissolve in water.
3 An orbit is the curved path in space that an object follows as it moves around a planet, moon, or star.
4 A sensor is an instrument that reacts to certain physical conditions, such as heat or light.
5 A hangar is a large building in which aircraft are kept.
What is the purpose of paragraph D?