Fashionable Technology Research Consortium

How to Go Au Naturel

From the boutonniere you pinned on your prom date, to the lovely lei that pegged you as a tourist in Hawaii, people have worn flowers and plants throughout history. Ingeo fibers take this idea to the next level. The wearable textiles are made by fermenting, distilling, and polymerizing corn dextrose, a sugar taken from plants. This week, check out the materials made from these 100 percent renewable fibers at Live the Dream: The Future of Sustainable Living, a showcase of various consumer products created with sustainability in mind.

Time: Daily 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
Place: Material ConneXion, 127 W. 25th St. between Sixth & Seventh Ave., second floor, New York
Price: Free

Via Science & the City

Fabcell

A textile version of pixels in a computer display. Fabcell enables expression of visual images in real space because it displays images on the curves of flexible textiles.

Read more about Fabcell at Siggraph 2006, Emerging Technologies Sketch

Via TRN Reader

Tactile Sensor as Sensitive as Human Skin

This nanoparticle film could guide surgeons' tools and help robots grip.
By Katherine Bourzac

Researchers have created a thin-film tactile sensor that, in some ways, is as sensitive as the human finger. When pressed against a textured object, the film creates a topographical map of the surface, by sending out both an electrical signal and a visual signal that can be read with a small camera. The spatial resolution of these "maps" is as good as that achieved by human touch.

Via MIT Technology Review

Kleider machen Läuse (in German)

Textilkunde
Kleider machen Läuse
Von Jenny Niederstadt
Frankfurter Allgemeine Online

Keprotec, ein synthetischer Stoff, ist reißfest, leicht und fünfmal stärker als Stahl - gut beim Klettern und Surfen

08. Mai 2006
Den Urknall der Mode erlebte Pediculus humanus hautnah mit. Für die menschliche Laus kündigte er sich mit einer Katastrophe an: Der Mensch verlor die Körperbehaarung. Vor etwa einer Million Jahre konnte sich das Tierchen deshalb nur noch auf dem Kopf und in den Schamhaaren festsetzen - der Rest seines Habitats verwandelte sich in Ödland: in nackte Haut.

Für die kleinen Kriecher begann damit ein langes Darben. Erst Jahrtausende später hüllten sich ihre Wirtstiere, die frühen Menschen, in Felle und Tierhäute, um sich gegen Wind, Regen und Kälte zu wappnen. Nur so waren sie gerüstet für den Marsch aus dem warmen Afrika ins eiszeitliche Europa. Ein Aufbruch nicht nur für den Menschen - auch die Laus entdeckte wieder Neuland: Sie nistete sich in den Gewändern ein. Das Ungeziefer paßte sich an. Aus der Kopflaus entstand eine neue Unterart, Pediculus humanus humanus, die Kleiderlaus.

Thanks to Rainer Stolle for sending me the link

Activated Charcoal Technology

"The medical industry has long known the benefits of charcoal as an odor absorbing media. Charcoal is used for filtering liquids and gases from their harmful elements. Activated charcoal fabric is the latest technology in gaseous odor absorbency. It actually has the carbon imbedded into the fabric. Then when the textile is formed it is in every part of the structure. Other carbon types are less effective. Granular charcoal is granules of carbon. They can be displaced so the entire structure is not active. Or if the granules are secured with adhesive then the surface area is not totally active because the adhesive will cover the granule."

Activated charcoal cloth was originally developed by the British Chemical Defense Establishment. It is originally thought to filter toxic gasses and vapors present in chemical warfare. This is why this material is a really efficient filter for decontamination for both water and air. Activated charcoal technology comes in a flexible fabric. This textile is extremely effective in removing odors due to its micro-porous character.

EzriEyes Sunglasses

Tel Aviv, Israel-based industrial designer Ezri Tarazi introduces EzriEyes Sunglasses. They have the appearance of being fragile because they are made of wood. But, on the contrary, the frame has been realized through a technologically advanced process so that it will resist rough treatment, including while engaged in strenuous sports activities. Much like a very thin sandwich of bread and meat, a layer of carbon fiber is fused between thin layers of wood. The process to realize EzriEyes™ produces eyeglass frames that will never break.

Inks

http://www.ctiinks.com/
http://www.thermochromicinks.com/inkrange.html

Woven Electronics

Plain woven synthetic fibers by Woven Electronics.

Phase Change Materials by Outlast

By buffering changes in temperature and humidity, OUTLAST Thermocules reduce overheating, sweating and chill.

Lame Lifesafer

Lame Lifesafer thread is sufficiently conductive to be able to substitute amply for lost conductivity in dead spots of any size, although patching may still be more cost-effective for large areas of completely dead fabric where the entire area requires treatment. It can be used in a number of ways, either hand- or machine-sewn, to repair individual dead spots or to augment sagging conductivity across an entire lamé.