|
|
 |
|
All these people at
SETI (Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence) scanning the
skies to find aliens... and there they are, in our closets!
How ironic.
This
week, we're exploring just three of the many incredible
innovations coming down the line in the fiber and textiles
industries-- and aliens are right in there with the best of
them. You may think that while fashions
change, fabrics remain pretty much the same, but nothing could
be further from the truth. Some of the coming textile
technologies make seasonal fashion trends look like kids?
stuff.
So, sit
back and enjoy a trip to the future with us.
Then bag up the things you need cleaned, and we'll trade you
our attention to detail for your precious free time.
See you soon!
Ed and Mary
Longanecker
for Iris City Cleaners and Laundering
Company | |
|
|
The Good Old Blues!
Though there are innovations
in textiles, fashions and the way garments fit, some classics
like your favorite jeans just never go out of style and can't
be improved upon. Do you realize that professional
finishing for your jeans makes them look even better than
usual? This week, to
convince you, we'll clean and finish a pair of jeans at no
charge when you have $15 in regular drycleaning
done. (Include
first page of this e-mail with your order. Offer expires Sept.
30. Cannot be combined with other
offers.) | |
|
The Drive to Innovate
One
characteristic of human beings is the drive to make something
better - anything. It might be improving
freeway traffic flow or the efficiency of the drive-thru
window at a fast food restaurant. It could be designing a
better mousetrap or making it possible for a physically
handicapped person to live a more active life. We seem driven to explore, invent, and improve
upon anything that falls in our
path.
The textile and fiber industries
are hotbeds of innovation. (Really!) As a drycleaner, it's my job to keep up with
such things because what is in the laboratories today will
show up in your cleaning order tomorrow.
Drycleaning associations and organizations work with
manufacturers to try to have the most accurate care labeling
on these new types of garments, so that customers will be
satisfied with both our efforts for years to come.
In searching the internet to see
"What's new?" recently, here were three interesting
innovations we
found. | |
|
Coconut Clothes?
Fiber science is incredibly
complex. The goal is to find or
create fibers (and fiber blends) that are sturdy, are able to
take dyes and other manufacturing processes well, and that are
attractive to both garment designers and
consumers. That's a tall order. In our world
of increasing population and decreasing resources, recycling
or making use of products that would normally be thrown away
is also important.
Enter Java
Coconut Cotton.
When coconuts are processed for all
that luscious white stuff we so love, a lot of waste is
created. Look at the photos above. The one on the left is a
pile of coconuts before the meat of the coconut is removed and
processed. The one on the right is what's left - quite
a pile! The Japanese are
working with other scientists to use the sturdy fibers
contained in coconut shells for use in textiles, by blending
them with cotton. The result is a very sturdy
fiber that takes dyes well. Don't be surprised to see Coconut
Cotton cropping up in the next few years in casual clothes of
all kinds. | |
|
Photonic Textiles
As if improving the "hand" of
textiles and the ability of fibers to perform well weren't
enough, companies like Philips are marrying textiles and new
technologies for entirely new applications. In the simplest terms, Photonic Textiles have a
layer of small light-emitting LED pixels (in RGB - Red, Green
and Blue - just like your computer screen) spaced precisely in
fabric, with a soft over-layer of fabric that diffuses the
light they emit. The diffusing properties of
the upper layer make the small points of light appear larger,
spreading out the light and colors.
What good is
this?
Not surprisingly, people who make
displays of all kinds are interested in this innovation - but
so are designers of home furnishings, as well as such everyday
items as towels, backpacks and floor mats. Imagine drapes that produce not just the colors
you want, but a low level of ambient light, as
well. Think of the possibilities for garments
utilizing this technology. As you can see from the photos
shown here, the fabric is flexible, and the light effect is
marked.
Just wait until Madison
Avenue gets hold of this
one!
| |
|
Aliens in your closet!
Yes, we promised you aliens, and
we've got them. Actually, we're
talking about a nanofiber that's been given the nicknamed
"alien" because somebody in the lab who'd been up way too late
looked at the fiber under a powerful microscope and thought it
had a "face" of a classic Hollywood alien.
(Judge for yourself in the photo here.)
A nanofiber is extremely small. A
nanometer is 1 one-billionth of a meter. Just 150 nanometers in diameter (smaller than
living cells), the "aliennanofibers" are much smaller than a
human hair -- which is about 80,000 nanometers in
thickness. (A sheet of paper is about 100,000
nanometers thick!)
What's so
attractive about these fibers?
In a
word, magnetism. There are nanoparticles in
the fibers that have magnetic properties, which means the
alien nanofibers can be added to any textile and be scanned by
a reader tuned to that particular magnetic
signature.
What's great about that?
This stuff can easily be added to
the manufacture of paper money (which
is part paper, part linen) to give
a quick read on whether the bill is counterfeit or
not. Passports can be made out of
it, and immediately determined to be authentic. Designer garments, which
carry a higher price tag for consumers and so are continually
"pirated" and replaced with lesser goods, can be authenticated
at any point in the production and delivery chain.
The buzz-word is "transparent
technology" - innovations that you don't see and don't
consciously think about, but which improve products in
substantial ways. When it comes to
nanotechnology, what you see is most definitely NOT all you
get.
The Drycleaner's
Perspective
Will these various fibers,
treatments and technologies be capable of being cleaned and
finished as current garments are? Only time
will tell. Some innovations remain in the Fad category because
they are impractacle in the "real world" where garments and
home textiles need regular cleaning and finishing to maintain
their cleanliness and beauty. Others drive innovation in the
drycleaning field to keep up with their special requirements.
Either way, we'll be keeping an
eye on trends like these and making sure we're ready to handle
whatever you throw at us. That's our job.
So, quit
worrying about that bump in the night.
It's probably just
another
alien....
|
|
|
We are
enormously appreciative of the opportunity to share our weekly
newsletters with you. We feel that much of the content
is valuable for anyone who purchases fine clothing and is
interested in their preservations and cleaning. Click on the symbol to
the left if your would like to send this and future
newsletters to a friend.
Thanks a million, Ed and
Mary
The
Iris City Cleaners Connection
is a weekly news letter dedicated to the interest of fine
garment care, restoration, and conservation. It is
published in Mt Pleasant, Iowa by Iris City Cleaners and is an
extension of our services described in
www.iriscitycleaners.com
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
