486
18 minutes
Dressed to Dazzle
As high-tech materials invade high-street fashion, pre-
pare for clothes that are cooler than silk and warmer
than wool, keep insects at arm’s length, and emit many
pinpricks of coloured light.
The convergence of fashion and high technology is lead-
ing to new kinds of fibres, fabrics and coatings that are
imbuing clothing with equally wondrous powers. Corpe
Nove,
an Italian fashion company, has made a prototype
shirt that shortens its sleeves when room temperature
rises and can be ironed with a hairdryer. And at Nexia
Biotechnologies, a Canadian firm, scientists have caused
a stir by manufacturing spider silk from the milk of ge-
netically engineered goats. Not surprisingly, some in-
dustry analysts think high-tech materials may soon in-
fluence fashion more profoundly than any individual
designer.
A big impact is already being made at the molecular
level. Nano-Tex, a subsidiary of American textiles mak-
er Burlington, markets a portfolio of nanotechnologies
that can make fabrics more durable, comfortable, wrin-
kle-free and stain-resistant. The notion of this technolo-
gy posing a threat to the future of
the clothing industry
clearly does not worry popular fashion outlets such as
Gap, Levi Strauss and Lands’ End, all of which employ
Nano-Tex’s products. Meanwhile, Schoeller Textil in
Germany, whose clients include famous designers Don-
na Karan and Polo Ralph Lauren, uses nanotechnology
to create fabrics that can store or release heat.
Sensory Perception Technologies (Spn embodies an en-
tirely different application of nanotechnology. Created
in 2003 by Quest International, a flavour and fragrance
company, and Woolmark, a wool textile organisation,
SPT is a new technique of embedding chemicals into
fabric. Though
not the first of this type, SPT’s durability
(evidently the microcapsule containing the chemicals
can survive up to 30 washes) suggests an interesting fu-
ture. Designers could incorporate signature scents into
their collections. Sportswear could be impregnated with
anti-perspirant. Hayfever sufferers might find relief by
pulling on a T-shirt, and so on.
The loudest buzz now surrounds polylactic acid (PLA)
fibres – and, in particular, one brand-named Ingeo. De-
veloped by Cargill Dow, it is the first man-made fibre
derived from a 100% annually renewable resource. This
is currently maize (corn), though in theory any ferment-
able
plant material, even potato peelings, can be used. In
performance terms, the attraction for the 30-plus clothes
makers signed up to use Ingeo lies in its superiority over
Hand out
pre and post reading
Slide 11
487
polyester (which it was designed to replace).
As Philippa Watkins, a textiles specialist, notes, Ingeo is
not a visual trend. Unlike nanotechnology, which prom-
ises to ‘transform what clothes can do, Ingeo’s impact
on fashion will derive instead from its emphasis on us-
ing natural sustainable resources. Could wearing syn-
thetic fabrics made from polluting and non-renewable
fossil fuels become as uncool as slipping on a coat made
from animal fur? Consumers should expect a much wid-
er choice of ‘green’ fabrics. Alongside PLA fibres, firms
are investigating plants such as bamboo, seaweed, net-
tles and banana stalks as raw materials for textiles. Soya
bean fibre is also gaining ground. Harvested
in China and spun in Europe, the fabric is a better ab-
sorber and ventilator than silk, and retains heat better
than wool.
Elsewhere, fashion houses – among them Ermenegildo
Zegna, Paul Smith and DKNY – are combining fashion
with electronics. Clunky earlier attempts Involved at-
taching electronic components to the fabrics after the
normal weaving process. But companies such as
SOFTswitch have developed electro-conductive fabrics
that behave in similar ways to conventional textiles.
Could electronic garments one day change colour or pat-
tern? A hint of what could be achieved is offered by
Luminex, a joint venture between Stabio Textile
and Caen. Made of woven optical fibres and powered by
a small battery, Luminex fabric emits
thousands of pin-
pricks of light, the colour of which can be varied. Cos-
tumes made of the fabric wowed audiences at a produc-
tion of the opera Aida in Washington,DC, last year.
Yet this ultimate of ambitions has remained elusive in
daily fashion, largely because electronic textiles capable
of such wizardry are still too fragile to wear. Margaret
Orth, whose firm International Fashion Machines makes
a colour-changing fabric, believes the capability is a
decade or two away. Accessories with this chameleon-
like capacity – for instance, a handbag that alters its col-
our – are more likely to appear first.
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