Impact of Technical Textiles on Health and Environment
March 21, 2023 The manufacturing sector is gaining worldwide attention due to the recent economic situation and supply chain issues.
The United States, United Kingdom, and Australia recently formed the AUKUS nuclear submarine partnership, which will boost jobs as well as scientific and technical partnerships in the Pacific region. Air India’s proposed procurement of Boeing and Airbus planes will create many manufacturing and research and development jobs in the United States and France. These are some examples of the revival in manufacturing in developed nations. And all of these projects involve some form of advanced textiles such as soft composites, PPEs, and more.
The global technical textiles sector has an annual growth rate above 5%.
On Feb. 26, I had an opportunity to present the usefulness of advanced textiles in enhancing human lives, saving the environment, and creating jobs to a global audience at the World Textile Conference-3 organized by Textile Association (India), the world’s largest professional association in the field of textiles. The conference attracted over 800 participants from India, the U.S., Germany, Switzerland, South Africa, and Uganda, representing all walks of the textile industry from fiber to fashion.
The talk featured the demonstration of a cotton-based oil absorbent and emphasized the importance of developing value-added textiles to enhance human life and protect the environment. I pitched the concept developed by U.S. Department of Defense that involves 4Ss for the growth of the industry: Sensing, Shaping, Sustaining, and Shielding (Growing). The sector can sense the need of technologies and products, map the requirements, build, and grow. There is a need to involve more sustainable products and processes to combat global warming.
There is more work to do in the technical textiles sector to develop technologies and products in a cost-effective way to include sustainable aspects. Developing economies need marketing help in this sector.
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