not so smart people making "smart textiles"?

IS LAUNDERING A PROBLEM?

Researchers explore washability of smart textiles

27/02/2020

Exploring the challenges surrounding the laundering of smart textiles, a recent article published in the Journal of the Textile Institute analysed the effect of textile substrates and washing factors (including time, temperature and mechanical action) on the reliability of conductor tracks.

Achieving wider use of smart textiles, according to the abstract, requires enhancing their often still poor usability — with washability as a key requirement. This is particularly true with textile integrated conductor tracks as those tracks “exhibit a higher level of integration into the textile substrates compared to other, often removable components of smart textiles”.

Authors Sigrid Rotzler, Christine Kallmayer, Christian Dils, Malte von Krshiwoblozki, Ulrich Bauer and Martin Schneider-Ramelow assessed changes in conductivity to determine the effects of different washing conditions on different combinations of textile substrate and conductor tracks were determined via changes in conductivity.

“Differing results for each combination do not permit global conclusions about the washability of textile integrated conductor tracks or smart textiles,” according to the abstract for the paper, which is titled Improving the washability of smart textiles: influence of different washing conditions on textile integrated conductor tracks.

“Instead, washability is influenced by the choice and combination of materials as well as methods of integration and processing – important to consider when developing new products.”

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For the past few years the textile industry has been involved in the manufacture of what they call “smart textiles”. Now that “smart textiles” are supposedly being made and used for garments they are probably experiencing some problems when these garments are washed. Didn’t these “smart textiles” fabric manufacturers think of that in the first place when they started making them. They are not very “smart”, are they so how can the textiles be “smart”?

There are trade shows for these “smart textiles” and to my astonishment the industry claims over one billion dollars of product sold. Where I do not know!

As I see it these people are after a fast buck if they can get it. They will inflate their sales figures as I believe a whole host of companies in the outdoor business have done so they could have IPO’s and once they become publicly traded, they do all they can to show the investors how many more customers they have.

The problem with this is the fact that outdoor retail stores all over the country are caving in. Modell’s is closing 24 stores now of a total of 141 and when they find they cannot raise money to keep the balance open they will also close the remaining stores.

Now this phenomenon is not only happening in the USA, but it is happening all over the world. So, in my opinion the sales of product is not commensurate with the stock market value of so many of these garment companies.

Think about the washability of any of these garments made from “smart textiles” before you waste your money on them because they will not work anyway.

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THERE IS SOMETHING TO BE SAID ABOUT PRODUCING IN THE U.S.A.

In an update, Columbia Sportswear said it its 2020 results “to be significantly affected” by the coronavirus outbreak as the epidemic impacts both its business in the Asia region and its supply chain.

“Our first priority has been to take appropriate measures to ensure the health and safety of our employees and partners,” commented Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Tim Boyle, in a statement. “Thankfully, we have no reported incidents of our employees contracting the virus to date, and many of them are working remotely from home to help maintain business operations. While this outbreak will have a material impact on our near-term financial performance in China, we continue to believe China represents one of our largest long-term geographic opportunities. We believe our fortress balance sheet, including no long-term debt, and diversified global business model will enable us to overcome this present adversity and unlock the full potential of our brand portfolio in this market over time.”

In 2019, China represented approximately 5 percent of total net sales and the Asia-direct business, which includes Japan, China and Korea, represented approximately 15 percent of total net sales. While stores have begun to reopen in China, approximately half of the company’s owned and partner stores there remain temporarily closed. Stores that are open in China have experienced a material decline in traffic and corresponding sales. There has also been an impact of the COVID-19 outbreak in Japan and Korea. Until normality returns, Columbia said it expects a continued unfavorable impact on sales in its Asia-direct business.

Like many other companies, the COVID-19 outbreak is also impacting its supply chain. While only a low-double-digit percent of its finished goods are manufactured in China, Columbia said its contract manufacturers source a large portion of raw materials from China. Temporary factory closures and the pace of workers returning to work have impacted its contract manufacturers’ ability to source certain raw materials and to produce and fulfill finished goods in a timely manner. The outbreak is also impacting distribution and logistics providers’ ability to operate in the normal course of business. These supply chain impacts will likely affect the company’s ability to timely fulfill orders and meet consumer demand. Given that the company has already received substantially all of its Spring 2020 product, potential order fulfillment delays would impact future seasons.

As stated on February 6, 2020, Columbia said its full-year 2020 financial outlook provided at that time did not include the potential financial impact of the COVID-19 outbreak. The COVID-19 outbreak is ongoing, and its dynamic nature, including uncertainties relating to the ultimate geographic spread of the virus, the severity of the disease, the duration of the outbreak, and actions that may be taken by governmental authorities to contain the outbreak or to treat its impact, makes it difficult to forecast any effects on its 2020 results. However, as of the date of this release, Columbia said it expects its 2020 results “to be significantly affected.”

Columbia said it will provide an update as to the impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak on its first-quarter earnings conference call scheduled for April 30, 2020.