This document discusses the potential for nanomaterials to revolutionize the fashion industry. It begins by providing context on past fashion innovations like ready-made clothing and zippers. It then introduces Susan Postlethwaite, a lecturer seeking to integrate technology and sustainability into fashion education. Postlethwaite teaches a course on fashion futures exploring nanomaterials, 3D printing, and designing for longevity. The document explores early adopters of nanomaterials in fashion from designers like Tom Lipop. While nanomaterials could enable properties like waterproofing and conductivity, challenges include the industry's slow adoption of technology and ensuring environmental sustainability.

1. Engineering & Technology June 2014 www.EandTmagazine.com
46 DESIGN FASHION TECHTOMLIPOPANDCALUMWATT
EVERY SO often a fashion innovation
comes along that fits so seamlessly into
our lives that we can’t imagine a time
when it wasn’t hanging in our wardrobes.
Ready-made, off-the-shelf clothing
came about due to innovation in textile
manufacturing in the 1830s, the advent
of plastic zips in the 1950s revolutionised
the fashion industry, and Teflon began
to coat uniforms in the 1960s to increase
their wearability. Could nanomaterials be
the next big fashion-tech innovation?
‘Fashion tech’, a phrase bandied around
far too often at sportswear launches, London
Fashion Week and wearable device events,
has faced widespread criticism by both
industries. Beyond sewing LEDs onto dresses
and integrating pedometers into bracelets,
seemingly few industry experts can pinpoint
how technology is going to influence fashion
in the future.
While thousands of websites are praising
a new age of wearable devices and smart
materials, Google the phrase ‘nanomaterials
in fashion’ and startlingly little has been
researched or written. In a modern,
tech-savvy age where the fashion and
technology sectors are being heralded as
industry’s most promising new allies, it’s a
troubling disconnect.
It’s not an illusion that the fashion
industry has been slow to embrace and foster
the use of technology within its hallowed
halls. In an arena that thrives on the
individuality of designers and the protected
secrets of original design, few fashion
designers have opted to open the closely
guarded doors of their fashion-houses to the
troublesome influence of engineers and
scientists.
Changing its spots
There is one woman, however, who
recognises the part technology has to
play in sustainable design and smarter
materials and who shuns the disconcerting
advent of fast-fashion and sweat-shop
manufacturing. Susan Postlethwaite,
lecturer of MA Fashion Futures at the
London College of Fashion (LCF) is trying
to change the rigid way in which the fashion
industry operates – one student at a time.
“The crux of teaching students from a
technological and fashion point of view is
that they will develop the ability to design
from a theoretical perspective,” says
Postlethwaite. “The working environment at
London College of Fashion allows students
to use 3D design software and 3D printers to
prototype ways of looking at fashion as a
proactive and provocative discipline that can
encompass ideas and ideals.”
Postlethwaite teaches from a dual
perspective of fashion and technology and
her MA Fashion Futures course is one of the
worryingly few to feature on today’s
university curriculums. She first introduced
the idea of engineering into LCF when she
created an MA in Fashion and the
Environment, before reframing the course as
MA Fashion Futures.
MA Fashion Futures looks at the role
technology has to play in developing new
ways of teaching and investigating clothing,
footwear and accessory design, treating
fashion as a critical study of materials and
modern technologies rather than just the
aesthetics of design. The course is
MATERIALByAbi Grogan

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www.EandTmagazine.com June 2014 Engineering & Technology
‘Fashion-tech’has become
a buzzword in both the
fashion and technology
sectors.E&T is the first to
explore the potential
nanomaterials have to
revolutionise both industries.
cross-subject, collaborating with students
from the product design, architecture,
curation, industrial design, science,
horticulture, philosophy, anthropology,
publishing, film and social media
departments to question modern fashion.
Postlethwaite believes that educating
young designers to use new technologies
such as nanomaterials could eventually
give the brands that hire them a competitive
edge. She says that artists are already
beginning to work with scientists to
make the nano process visible.
“It’s vital the link between science and art
becomes closer. As fashion designers we want
to embrace technology by experimenting,
but to do this we need scientists and
engineers to build us things to play with.
The 3D printer is a perfect example. It’s a
big focus of the Fashion Futures course.”
Collaboration, Postlethwaite says, is the
key to fusing the fashion and technology
industries through shared knowledge and
research. She sees partnerships with private
organisations as the way forward; joining
forces with technology organisations that
have already developed processes and can
bring them into the university. “The fashion
industry is renowned for its slowness in
up-taking new technologies,” she says.
“What’s interesting from a university point
of view is that we really want to work with
the technologies but we can’t invest in them
because things change too quickly.
“We’re living in an interesting time where
lots of people wear very functional clothing,
but on the catwalk we’re still seeing fantastic
invention. Thanks to the Internet we have a
fashion-aware world, but people aren’t
wearing fashion the way that they used to.”
Postlethwaite adds: “Performance
sportswear and fashion are beginning to
fuse, and sportswear is leading the way for
high-performance fabrics. But
nanomaterials are going to revolutionise
fashion right the way through to couture.”
Optical nanotextiles – a reflection of light
or a reflection of infrared for sun protection
– is one potential application for
namomaterials in fashion, or the absorption
of light and heat so a garment can cover less
of your body but retain more warmth.
Commercial fashion technology
Thomas Stegmaier is a researcher at
the Center of Excellence for Technical
Textiles Denkendorf, a hi-tech German
acceleration centre that specialises
in creating technical fabrics with
commercial potential. “We are using special
electro-spinning technology to include
nanoparticles in the fibre of garments,”
says Stegmaier. “If you wanted a magnetic
property to a fibre, for example, we could
introduce magnetic effect into the fibre.
“We can decrease the electrostatic effect to
avoid electric shocks associated with cheap
nylon clothing, or increase it to allow a
garment to conduct electricity.”
While Postlethwaite has yet to see the final
potential applications for nanomaterials in
couture fashion, she’s under no illusion that
textiles are its prime application. “We don’t
yet know what the possibilities are in
nanomaterials in fashion, nevertheless we’re
sitting on the cusp of a technology that is
going to change everything.
“In the end what people do with
nanomaterials is going to be textiles >
WORLD
British designer
Tom Lipop uses a
nanomaterial
called nanobloc
to waterproof his
garments without
altering the fabric
finish

3. Engineering & Technology June 2014 www.EandTmagazine.com
48 DESIGN FASHION TECH
< related,” she says. “The lightness, the
impermeability, the practical side of
integrating it into textiles will be its unique
selling point. I was discussing recently the
potential of almost invisible clothing, and
when you’re working with technology on a
nano-scale you have the ability to integrate
technology that is virtually invisible.”
Fast fashion
Fashion is a fickle industry by nature,
with garments becoming obsolete and
landfill-worthy the moment a season passes,
rendering entire lines unfashionable. This
wasteful attitude has been compounded
by the advent of fast fashion from
highstreet stores such as Primark and
H&M, who have benefitted from cheap
international labour and increasingly
falling material costs. In the meantime,
these stores and their consumers are filling
landfills at an alarmingly rapid rate.
Postlethwiate is attempting to rebalance
this attitude towards disposable fashion
by looking at new ways of designing
clothes to last, including the exploitation
of nanomaterials in production. “We’re
trying to slow down the cycle, to break
away from the sped-up, transient nature
of the fashion industry. From my
perspective the market has become so
risk averse it’s almost lost its logic.”
Time in fashion is predicted, designed
and produced in six-month cycles; twice a
year depending on whether a line falls into
the spring and summer ranges (SS) or
autumn and winter (AW). Although fashion
changes over time, Postlethwaithe insists
that there are not huge alterations from
season to season and that most of the
changes occur in colour, texture and pattern.
She says the fashion industry would be
sensible to look at seasons over ten-year
periods and, rather than making radical
changes every six months, pick classic
shapes and cuts that could integrate
nanomaterials to enable changes in colour,
texture and function.
“I think there is always a problem with
technologies that get too cheap,”
Postlethwaite says. “We are able to produce
garments in the Far East that are so cheap
they cost virtually nothing. The cost of
fabrics becoming too cheap is not actually
that desirable, we need to think about
resources and the ‘real’ cost of things. Who is
making these things and are they being fairly
paid; there are implications all the way
through manufacture. For me, cheap fashion
is actually a problem. It means that we’re
going to consume more.”
However, she says, there are dangers
in using nanomaterials to manufacture
garments that are too durable.
“There is the possibility of making
fabrics that won’t degrade by using
nanomaterials to delay the onset of
decay – clothing that will last forever.”
Postlethwaite says this will have a serious
impact on how we design and use these
fabrics. The paradigm is whether designers
should be making things that don’t ever
degrade. She argues that our tastes change as
we age, so clothing forms a function that
allows us to express ourselves. If we make
something that lasts forever, how useful is it?
This issue could be countered with a smart
nano-textile that is recyclable. “Would we be
able to recycle it? What is the longevity of a
product like this and is it really sustainable
if it goes to landfill when fashions change?”
Postlethwaite asks. “If we could create an
infinite fabric that we could recycle then that
would be the ideal.”
Nanomaterials on the catwalk
Despite lending obvious benefits such
as waterproofing, electromagnetic
conductivity, increased durability and
insulation to textiles (see box out: An Inside
View) surprisingly few fashion designers
have incorporated nanomaterials into new
collections. The most likely explanation
for this is the fashion industry’s archaic
reluctance to dip its toe into the field of
technology as a whole. There are, however,
still a few brave and innovative designers
that have taken the risk and introduced the
fashion-pack to nano-based garments.
An exhibition at the Victoria and Albert
Museum, London, recently revealed how
nanomaterials have entered the couture
slipstream of fashion. It displayed a dress by
costume and fashion designer Alexander
Ruth, made from a specially designed
nanosilk. The couture dress was made
from an impenetrable, high-performance
fabric capable of protecting its wearer from
being soaked in navy dye. During the
exhibition demonstration, dye was poured
over a model wearing the silk dress, which
thirstily drank up the liquid while the
model’s skin remained completely
unstained.
Nanomaterial’s first foray onto the
catwalk was executed through the vision
of designer Tom Lipop, a self-confessed
technology-addict who has designed for
models Kate Moss and Erin O’Connor,
during his SS14 show. Working out of a
small studio in Hackney, east London,
Lipop creates technically tailored
pieces with laser-cut pockets and
fabric-bonded, eliminated seams.
Lipop’s true innovation lies in his
specially formulated nanomaterial coating
called nanobloc, which lends all the qualities
of waterproofing to a garment without
altering the texture of the fabric or
compromising the look of the piece. A
showerproof line of linen suiting and
shirting, casual fit shirts and bamboo jersey
t-shirts, made their way through the
flashbulbs of the menswear equivalent of
London Fashion Week.
Lipop praises the use of nanomaterials in
fashion: “I’m really interested in techno
fabrics. I have a cashmere fabric that has
been nano-bloced to make it water repellent
and that is something I would love to develop
– a whole outfit that is waterproof. What if
you want to go skinny-dipping but it’s cold?
There are really interesting developments in
the techno-fabric industry.”
Dangers of nanomaterials
As with all new technologies there are
those who believe nanomaterials could
be a grave danger to wearers. Research
proving that silver incorporated into
nanomaterial garments made its way
into water during trialling did little to
calm fears in the scientific community.
Postlethwaite remains unconvinced. “To
be honest, it’s not a worry. I think obviously
research needs to be done into the science of
nanotechnology and its potential effects, but
I’m sceptical of its risks and it’s not the kind
of anxiety I’d like to promote. I don’t think
that should stop us from using it.”
She is keen to disapprove the
scaremongering of nanomaterials in the
fashion world as she thinks it could
damage the industry’s useful expolitation of
the new technology. “People are going to go
ahead and develop things at the nano-scale
anyway. I liken it to the relatively unfounded
fear of mobile phones causing brain
tumours, which in a modern age has done
little to halt the development of the mobile
phone industry or the number of consumers
buying them.”
Posthethwaite is right to be cavalier in her
attitude to the risks of nanomaterials in
T.Lipop is the
first fashion
label to integrate
nanomaterials into
its catwalk collection
‘We’re sitting on the cusp of
a technology that is going
to change everything’
Susan Postlethwaite, London
College of Fashion

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www.EandTmagazine.com June 2014 Engineering & Technology
textiles. The Umweltbundesamt (the
German equivalent of the UK’s Environment
Agency) and The Center of Excellence for
Technical Textiles Denkendorf have recently
published some research exploring the few
significant risks of silver-based
nanomaterials being absorbed by the
human body through the skin and via
German wastewater supplies.
“We’ve done a lot of research into the
safety and dangers side of integrating metal
oxide nanomaterials into textiles,” says
Stegmaier. “We have determined through
three years of research that when using
these types of nanomaterials in textiles or
the finishing process that there are
categorically no significant dangers.
“If you are using metals, minerals or
oxides I see no real problem. The only
possible exception is silver – if it finds itself
into wastewater it could be a problem.”
Nanomaterials can enter wastewater
treatment plants via industrial and urban
wastewater, and research has found a few
isolated cases of toxic nanosilver particles
forming in the sludge of wastewater
facilities. However, using incinerators to
destroy nanomaterial waste could prevent
future contamination.
The Umweltbundesamt determined that
healthy, intact skin is a good barrier for
titanium and zinc oxide nanoparticles, which
are used regularly in products such as sun
cream. Silver particles were found on the
upper dermal level of patients’ skin and in
the hair particles of wearers, but then simply
rubbed off.
However, smaller particles can enter
deeper layers of the skin, which could have
further health implications. Research shows
that gold nanoparticles (5nm in diameter)
penetrated the horny layer of mouse skin,
while quantum dots5
(Ø 4.5 nm – 12nm)
penetrated the skin of pigs.
The Umweltbundesamt’s report concluded
that nanomaterials as a whole are not
a dangerous technology if produced in
a controlled environment, but could be
a waste of finite resources. The report
advised: “Designers, manufacturers and
consumers should in particular review the
use of precious metals and rare materials
in textiles for their purpose and intended
function. While the use of nano-silver can
be useful in textiles of medical purpose,
it may be a waste of valuable resources
and pose environmental and health
risks in clothes for everyday wear.”
The benefits for the environment, it seems,
could outweigh the negatives. Wearing
nanosilver or triclosan-infused (biocidal)
garments would reduce the wearer’s carbon
footprint as garments need fewer washes,
which saves power and laundry detergents.
Wearing biocidal garments can reduce the
wearer’s water consumption and carbon
footprint from 402kt (kilotonnes) of CO2
per
year to 47kt of CO2
per year as the garment’s
enhanced antibacterial properties mean they
need to be washed less frequently.
Improved dyeability in textiles also
reduces the number of dyeing and washing
cycles during manufacture and can therefore
save raw materials and prevent wastewater.
“We’re currently sitting on the cusp of
what nanomaterials can do to revolutionise
the fashion industry,” says Postlethwaite.
“Unfortunately, all we can do for now
is sit and wait until the technology has
advanced enough to see what this big
change in textiles will do and see what
designers can do with what innovative
tools scientists can make for us.” *
PROPERTIES OF NANOTEXTILES NANOMATERIAL
Electroconductive/anti-static Carbon black
Carbon nanotubes (CNT)
Copper
Polypyrrole
Polyaniline
Increased durability Aluminium oxide
CNT
Poly butyl acrylate
Silicon dioxide
Zinc oxide
Antimicrobial Silver
Chitosan
Silicon dioxide
Titanium dioxide
Zinc oxide
Self-cleaning/dirt and water repellent CNT
Fluoroacrylate
Silicon dioxide
Titanium dioxide (anatase)
Moisture-absorbent Titanium dioxide
Improved dyeability Carbon black
Nanoporous hydrocarbon-nitrogen
coating
Silicon dioxide
UV protection, protection from fading Titanium dioxide (rutile)
Zinc oxide
Fire resistance CNT
Borosiloxane
Montmorillonite (nanoscale clay)
Antimony ash
Controlled release of active ingredients, pharmaceuticals, or
fragrances
Nanostructured hollow bodies (e.g.
cyclodextrine-based)
Montmorillonite (nanoscale clay)
Silicon dioxide
Heat-conducting or insulating properties CNT
Vanadium dioxide
Shielding electromagnetic radiation (IR/microradiation/
radio waves)
Indium tin oxide
Abrasion resistance
CNT
NANOMATERIALS
AN INSIDEVIEW
Nanomaterials can be
integrated into textiles in
several ways to give clothing
beneficial properties such as
waterproofing,antibacterial or
reduced electrostatic.
The most effective way is to
integrate nanoparticles into
the fibre itself by mixing the
nanoparticles into the hot,
liquid polymer.
Once the fibre is solidified,
traditional formation
processes are used to spin the
polymer into the shell of a
thread,around a strong core to
give the textile strength.
The nanoparticle can also
be integrated into a finished
textile by coating the product
after it is made,but this is a less
effective method due to the
nanomaterial coating’s
tendency to wear off the
surface of the garment during
wear and washing.
In the core or sheath fibre On the fibre or in the coating
Nanopores
(in the fibre
or coating)
Nanofibres (nanoscale diameter)
Nanolayers on
the fibre
1.When used in the manufacturing and finishing process,
nanomaterial properties are either integrated into the fibre volume
or applied as a coating onto the textile.This is called nanocoating.
2. Nanostructured materials are fibres that
have had much smaller ‘nanopores’ integrated
into the core or onto the surface.
BASED ON BICKEL AND SOM 2011