Resources
Trusted Smart Textile Suppliers
The STA Suppliers Directory represents a list of companies with a proven track record of supplying high quality Smart Textile products. Components from these players all fit within the Smart Textile Stack™. We would recommend those who are looking to build Smart Textile products to consult our Suppliers Directory when considering where to source different technologies.
The Smart Textile Stack
Scroll through the Stack and Directory on the right to find trusted suppliers of Smart Textile products and solutions for your project.
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HANDLING & CARE
There are currently no labelling standards for washing Smart Textiles and no systems available for recycling these types of garments. We would recommend referring to the International Association for Textile Care Labelling (Ginetex) standards in this instance.
HARDWARE & SOFTWARE
A variety of wearable processing platform for sensing applications and IOT services are available on the market. There is however a lack of standardized connection interfaces. Nanoleq and ITK Engineering are experts in this sector.
ELECTRONIC CONNECTORS
A universal washable connector that is suitable for cloth is not currently available however work is being done to counteract this issue by Smart Textile Alliance. There are several good proprietary solutions with Palarum having a very good example of an effective connector solution.
FIBRES AND FABRICS
Conductive fibers and sensing / circuitry fabrics is a well-established segment. For high volume product we would recommend AMOHR, Conductive Transfers and Tytex who are specialists in creating advanced textile solutions.
Smart Textile Products
Explore market ready products.
Palarum is an American medtech company that specialises in fall prevention technology.
Their innovative Patient is Up (PUP) Smart Sock alerts hospital staff when at-risk patients stand up when they shouldn’t without assisting nurses being close by.
The PUP socks have integrated sensing threads that alert the nursing station when a fall risk patient starts to walk, reducing the number of falls of patients in hospitals. Palarum provides system hardware and software to support the infrastructure of this technology.
The Palarum PUP sock has been trialled at various institutions in the USA. So far it has been trialled on 3,179 patients for more than 10,000 patient days and has led to a 73% reduction in patient falls. No other solution offers the same kind of precision in detecting falls whilst causing very few false alarms.
Smart Textile Alliance is helping Palarum to bring their technology to the British healthcare system.
Smart Textile specialists dedicated to monitoring vital signs.
Nanoleq believes that in the coming years, the monitoring of our vital signs will become increasingly important. Better knowledge of the human body and mind will help us on our path to leading a healthier and more balanced life. Continuous monitoring for patients will pave the way for predictive diagnostics and individualized medicine to improve people’s health and happiness.
Nanoleq’s mission is to provide everyone with the means to live a life centered on higher wellbeing and improved health by listening to our bodies through monitoring technology integrated into our everyday clothing.
System Integrators
Find your system integrator.
Software developers making systems intelligent.
A wholly owned subsidiary of Robert Bosch GmbH since 2017 but operating as a brand of their own with an R&D unit that is separate from Bosch, ITK Engineering provides the full range of software development services for embedded systems, data analytics, and artificial intelligence.
Combining these method-based skills with their deep insight into various sectors, they can make the most of synergetic effects to provide tailored solutions and fresh impetus to their customers. The ITK in ITK Engineering is shorthand for Ingenieurgesellschaft für technische Kybernetik, or engineering company for technical cybernetics.
Smart Textile specialists dedicated to monitoring vital signs.
Nanoleq believes that in the coming years, the monitoring of our vital signs will become increasingly important. Better knowledge of the human body and mind will help us on our path to leading a healthier and more balanced life
Continuous monitoring for patients will pave the way for predictive diagnostics and individualized medicine to improve people’s health and happiness.
Nanoleq’s mission is to provide everyone with the means to live a life centered on higher wellbeing and improved health by listening to our bodies through monitoring technology integrated into our everyday clothing.
Specialists in customised medical textile solutions.
Tytex specialises in developing, manufacturing and selling textile solutions for special medical needs ranging from post-op care to compression garments and incontinence solutions.
Products developed by Tytex are designed to provide users with safe, easy-to-wear and discreet textile and garment solutions. Tytex delivers customised OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) and private label products to some of the largest medical brands on the market and also sell Tytex branded concepts via a global distributor network.
Tytex strives to be a market leader in the fixation and support of smart wearables, delivering textile solutions which are developed and manufactured to perfectly compliment for instance sensing fabrics and attachments or detachments of electronic devices and any other smart technology which needs a textile solution in order to be fixated on a body or object.
Woven or Printed Solutions
Browse suppliers of printed or woven fabrics.
Specialist producers of technical narrow fabrics. Used for interconnecting devices.
Amohr has more than 100 years of experience in producing technical narrow fabrics. After sourcing yarns and wires Amohr proceeds to warp, weave, warp-knit and finish the technical narrow fabrics at their plants.
Amohr attaches great importance to long-term, close cooperation with their partners. They believe that trust is built by overcoming difficult situations together.
Their textile electrodes are mostly used for flat, areal contacting. They manufacture in large volume, elastic and non-elastic versions so that they can be cut to suit the application environment. They also offer textile electrodes with integrated hot-melt adhesive. These can be ironed onto any substrate.
Innovators in manufacturing printed stretchable electronics.
Conductive Transfers is looking to change the way that the world thinks about printing. They have developed a revolutionary and patented process for manufacturing printed stretchable electronics and heaters.
The Smart Textile innovation interacts within the layers of printed ink to make the transfer itself be the sensor or heater avoiding the need for wires or miniature electronics.
The patented process results in circuits that are stretchable, washable, durable and effective. They have also developed heater transfers whereas the heat can be regulated between 15 to 130 degrees. They are ready to support companies in the Smart Textile industry.
Market Overview
Here you will find great information about Smart Textiles. The video are for non-profit educational purposes only. We include small bits of external material to add meaning to the content with true respect for fair use. We suggest you visit companies’ website if you want to learn more about the products mentioned.
Smart Textiles Market Map
Here you can find a diagram of the current markets for smart textiles.
If you are looking for a 5-minute introduction to Smart Textiles this is the video for you.
Ambassadors
STA Ambassadors are organisations whose values and work we admire. We share a common vision to make electronics soft and textiles smart in a responsible way. Our Ambassadors are ready to assist you with matters outside the scope of our own business.
Fraunhofer IZM
Get access to a world-class lab for electronics in textiles
Danish Technological Institute
Advanced digital printing of electronics for e-textiles
TiTV
Application orientated research in the field of Smart Textiles
Centi
Centre for Nanotechnology and Smart Materials
Innovate the future of functional fibres and flexible electronics
Affoa
Advanced Functional Fabrics of America
Revolutionizing the American Functional Textile Industry
ETP
European Technology Platform
Join the Strategic Research Agenda for fibres textiles and clothing
UKFT
UK Fashion and Textile Association
Providing leadership, knowledge and opportunities within the UK fashion and textile industry
IDTechEx
If you are looking for reliable and updated market data for wearable technology, this is the place to go
AATCC
The American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists
Take part in leading the development of test methods for e-textiles
E-Textile Network
Meet researchers and developers from academia and industry interested in adding electronic functionality to textiles
Nottingham School of Art and Design
Research into designing electronically active wearable technology
The Textile Institute
Share your expertise with people in the textile industry worldwide
Lastest from our Blog
We let you know what is new in Smart Textiles and why it matters to you. The contributions are from STA staff or from our industry partners. Our goal is to provide high-quality information that you cannot find anywhere else.
ITK Engineering – Smart Textile in Volume
ITK Engineering is a systems integrator and developer, helping companies to translate their ideas into smart textile product for mass manufacturing. ITK is a subsidiary of Bosch Group, developing...
Conductive Transfer – Printed Stretchable Electronics for Textiles
Conductive Transfers is a leader in printing stretchable electronic technology that can be transferred on to textiles to create smart textile solutions. The printing technology can be used to easily...
AMOHR – Specialists in Intelligent Narrow Fabrics
AMOHR is a German specialist in woven conductive tapes and sensor ribbons. The advantage of these tapes is that they can be designed specifically for the mounting of electronic components. Woven...