020 - TEXTILE FUTURES

By Bradley Quinn (2010)

These are my notes from this book. I have included everything I think is relevant to creating a fashion garment with technology. I want to find out as much as I can about the technology behind new and "futuristic" materials. I may get inspiration from this research for my product.

Clothing can take decades to decompose, all the while, leaching deadly chemicals and harmful gases into the soil around it.

We need to consider garments entire life cycle.

Conglomerates – a thing consisting of a number of different and distinct parts or items that are grouped together.

Melt-processable fibres : sustainable alternative to existing polymer textiles.

Polyactic polymer technology is being developed, creating fibres from renewable agricultural resources such as corn or sugar beets.

Biomimetic – biochemistry – epigenetics – biomimicry

Although the science of biomimicry is new, the principles behind it are not.

Peacocks plumage, the colours are not created by an array of pigments, but by light catching barbules.

Barbules – minute filaments projecting off barbs on the quills spine. They form a lattice-like pattern, but the only pigment they contain comes from melanin, which his brown. The colours are from an optical phenomenon. The lattice’s patterns vary, affecting how light waves pass over them and therefore which colours are caught and reflected back to the eye. Because colours are created by the barbules rather than pigments (which oxidize over time) they never fade.

Texture can be a viable alternative to the use of pigments : there are not chemicals in the process.

Materials I find interesting:

Morphotex

Colourful textile made without dyes or pigments. Was used by Descente who produced skiwear for swiss, Canadian and spanis hJO alpine teams.

Speedo LZR Racer suit.

Made with LZR pulse fabric, developed in association with NASA and Australian Institute of Sport.

Stomatex

Lightweight, ultrathin non porous polyester textile that is weather proof and breathable.

Biocouture

Bacterial cellulose ot product clothing. Grown in a tea and sugar solution, similar to the kombucha bacteria culture.

Spider Silk

One of the worlds toughest fibres. Gram for gram is 5 x stronger than steel.