Advanced Functional Fabrics
Design Prompts:
- A girl going to her prom wants a dress that lights up in response to the music
- A runner wants clothes than change color with heart rate and blood pressure
- A student needs shoes that help him correct his gait
Advanced Functional Fabrics of America- AFFOA
http://go.affoa.org/
Our clothes help define us yet the fabrics we wear have remained functionally unchanged for thousands of years. Recent breakthroughs in fiber materials and manufacturing processes will soon allow us to design and wear fabrics that see, hear, sense, communicate, store and convert energy, regulate temperature, monitor health and change color — heralding the dawn of a “fabric revolution.”
http://go.affoa.org/
Our clothes help define us yet the fabrics we wear have remained functionally unchanged for thousands of years. Recent breakthroughs in fiber materials and manufacturing processes will soon allow us to design and wear fabrics that see, hear, sense, communicate, store and convert energy, regulate temperature, monitor health and change color — heralding the dawn of a “fabric revolution.”
AFFOA /Greater Lawrence Technical School/MIT Edgerton Center Collaboration
"...The collaboration between AFFOA, GLTS, the MIT Edgerton Center and the STEAM Studio Education Foundation aims to develop the next generation of multi-skilled workers by exposing students to a myriad of technical skills in the context of manufacturing advanced functional fabrics. The AFF curricula will integrate skills learned at AFFOA High Tech Fabric Discovery Center into an introductory-level curriculum that encompasses Fiber Design, Textile Design and Product Design of Advanced Functional Fabrics and will be piloted at GLTS.“AFF offers students far more than an opportunity to pursue a career, it allows them to be part of a potential industry that will hopefully impact the quality of people’s lives,” said John Lavoie, Superintendent, Greater Lawrence Technical School. “Students will be inspired and excited to be the first entrepreneurs to design and produce high tech clothes of the future,” he added.
The curricula will have two interwoven learning pathways that support the student’s ability to build a multi-skilled and multi-faceted framework: Machining, Manufacturing aimed at students interested in AFF production and Engineering Design aimed at students interested in AFF design. Together these pathways are expected to position the students for multiple degree programs and career opportunities in advanced manufacturing, functional fabrics and beyond. This program will also help AFFOA develop a model for scaling alike programs throughout the Commonwealth, in other states and Fabric Discovery Centers, as well as developing a standard for making program materials widely available..."
"...The collaboration between AFFOA, GLTS, the MIT Edgerton Center and the STEAM Studio Education Foundation aims to develop the next generation of multi-skilled workers by exposing students to a myriad of technical skills in the context of manufacturing advanced functional fabrics. The AFF curricula will integrate skills learned at AFFOA High Tech Fabric Discovery Center into an introductory-level curriculum that encompasses Fiber Design, Textile Design and Product Design of Advanced Functional Fabrics and will be piloted at GLTS.“AFF offers students far more than an opportunity to pursue a career, it allows them to be part of a potential industry that will hopefully impact the quality of people’s lives,” said John Lavoie, Superintendent, Greater Lawrence Technical School. “Students will be inspired and excited to be the first entrepreneurs to design and produce high tech clothes of the future,” he added.
The curricula will have two interwoven learning pathways that support the student’s ability to build a multi-skilled and multi-faceted framework: Machining, Manufacturing aimed at students interested in AFF production and Engineering Design aimed at students interested in AFF design. Together these pathways are expected to position the students for multiple degree programs and career opportunities in advanced manufacturing, functional fabrics and beyond. This program will also help AFFOA develop a model for scaling alike programs throughout the Commonwealth, in other states and Fabric Discovery Centers, as well as developing a standard for making program materials widely available..."
Let it rain! New coatings make natural fabrics waterproof
http://news.mit.edu/2018/coatings-make-natural-fabrics-waterproof-0629
http://news.mit.edu/2018/coatings-make-natural-fabrics-waterproof-0629