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QCC Joins Nationwide Partnership with MIT to Create New, High-Tech Fabrics and Textiles

April 2016

Recent breakthroughs in fiber materials and manufacturing processes will soon allow the design of fabrics that see, hear, sense, communicate, store and convert energy, regulate temperature, monitor health and change color – the dawn of a “fabric revolution.”

Earlier this month it was announced that Massachusetts Institute of Technology has been chosen to run a new $317 million public-private partnership, creating a futuristic textiles manufacturing center. The goal is to develop cutting-edge fabrics, and accelerate innovation in U.S.-based manufacturing of fibers and textiles.

The partnership, named the Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (AFFOA) Institute, won a national competition for federal funding to create the latest Manufacturing Innovation Institute. The partnership includes 32 universities, 16 industry members, 72 manufacturing entities, and 26 startup incubators, spread across 27 states and Puerto Rico.

"Fibers and fabrics are among the earliest forms of human expression, yet have changed very little over the course of history," said Yoel Fink, director of the MIT-based Advanced Functional Fabrics of America. "All this is about to change as functional fiber and yarn technologies meet traditional textile production and yield new products by design."

UMass will offer its technical expertise in flexible electronics and wearable technologies, and Quinsigamond Community College's role will be to support education and training of a skilled workforce in advanced textiles manufacturing.

AFFOA is strategically positioned as a National Fabric Innovation Network poised to deliver revolutionary advances across the entire fabric supply chain, from multifunctional fibers to advanced nonwovens and yarn production to sophisticated weaving and knitting capabilities and end-product fabrication for first-to-market manufacturing opportunities.

Functional fabrics could be used for:

  • Defense: Lighten soldiers loads through lighter, tougher fabrics in clothing and gear, such as backpacks.
  • Consumer products: Clothing with advanced woven and non-woven technologies, creating clothes that can cool you, change color, last longer, mask or transmit odors and much more.
  • Venture capital: fund the increase in wearable products, such as clothing that monitors health information, and start-up ventures.
  • Transportation: Use of advanced fabrics for upholstery in cars, trains, and planes.
  • Manufacturing: Producing new fibers and textiles will require next generation equipment and machinery.

Source: http://www.rle.mit.edu/fabric/

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