Textile

Researchers are developing a coating for fabric that will not only block dangerous chemicals from the skin, but deactivate them entirely. This technology could benefit soldiers, farmers, and people who are in contact with toxic substances at work.

There could be new hope in the fight against hospital-acquired infections. Spanish scientists have developed an experimental type of self-disinfecting cotton fabric, which is activated via ordinary white light.

Researchers have developed a 3D-knitted textile that protects plants from pests while allowing sunlight, air and rainwater to pass through. Shaped into greenhouse-like domes, the special fabric can triple strawberry yields.

Imagine clothing that could repair itself, change color, self-clean, and then eventually break down in the soil. Sounds futuristic, but it’s already a reality: Chinese researchers have turned living fungi into a fabric and sewn a dress from it.

A computer hidden inside a single strand of fabric sounds like sci-fi, but it isn't. Researchers have built a “fiber chip” thinner than hair, which could be turned into everyday clothing or used to treat neurological diseases and aid robotic surgery.

If you find 3D printers to be just a little too coldly futuristic, this contraption might be more to your liking. Scientists from Cornell University have created a machine that knits solid 3D objects out of nice old-timey conventional yarn.

When it comes to keeping cool on hot days, it's not so much a matter of wearing less clothing as it is a matter of wearing the right clothing. A new fabric coating could help in that regard, and it's essentially made of chalk.

Bridging fashion and functionality, SpaceX has revealed what its astronauts will be wearing on the first-ever private spacewalk in 2024. In a new video, the company details the features of the suit that will be space-tested on the Polaris Dawn mission.

Custom-fit clothing is usually quite expensive, but perhaps it doesn't have to be. MIT's 4D Knit Dress is an example of a new type of clothing that a robot could selectively shrink to fit the wearer, perhaps right in the store.

While there are already clothing materials that help keep wearers cool simply by allowing heat to escape, an experimental new fabric coating goes a step further. Utilizing a whole bunch of nanodiamonds, it actually draws heat away from the body.

Scientists believe lightweight, ultra-strong and flexible spider silk is now one step closer to commercial use thanks to a deceptively complex 'box' that can spin nature's wonder fiber in a "spontaneous, extremely rapid, and highly reproducible" way.

Electrically conductive "smart fabrics" have many potential applications, but their specialized fibers typically aren't as soft and flexible as those made of regular materials. An experimental new fiber, however, is both flexible and conductive.