Waste/pollution reduction & circularity
Project Sponsors & Partners:
Advanced Functional Fabrics of America
MIT Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation
Braskem – TEKHOLDING – Under Armour
SVETEX technology addresses the problem of environmental pollution & poor utilization of textiles by engineering low-carbon monomaterial garments, which save water and provide passive cooling, thus reducing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. META Lab partnered with AFFOA, TEKHOLDING, Braskem & Under Armour to develop textiles from biomass-derived polyethylene, while Unplastic India aims to use SVETEX technology to convert LDPE waste in India into affordable cooling textiles.
A SVETEX technology pitch at the MIT Water Innovation Prize competition delivered by Andrea Lehn.
Medical Apparel
Project Sponsors & Partners:
MIT META Lab engineers partnered with Colorchain Inc. to address the compelling need for a textile solution that effectively addresses safety, technology, performance, and sustainability, all while seamlessly adapting from everyday use apparel to highly regulated environments such as Intensive Care Units (ICUs), Operating Rooms (ORs), and specialized laboratories.
Automotive thermoregulation
Project Sponsors & Partners:
Hot weather can cause the temperature inside a vehicle to spike within minutes. This is why it’s important to never leave animals or children inside a closed car for any period of time. If you turn the AC on, the hotter it gets, the more it will decrease the car driving range. At 80F, a EV car mileage is reduced by 2.8%. At 95F, the mileage drop is 17%, and at 100F, it can be as large as 31%. META Lab works with Seoyon E-HWA engineers on a SVETEX-enabled thermoregulating insulation for automotive interior, which controls radiative heat transfer and storage to save lives and extend the car mileage.
Athletic apparel
Project Sponsors & Partners:
Advanced Functional Fabrics of America
Fashion Institute of Technology
Student design team: Alejandro Martinez, Karo Buttler, Kenneth Espinosa, Julia Chatterjee (MITANDFIT workshop 2021).
High-performance military textiles
Project Sponsors & Partners:
Office of Naval Research – Global
Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico
Federal University of Ceara, Brazil
US Navy helmet systems have been optimized for protection, hearing, and enhanced communications with little consideration for comfort and the need for cooling. The risk of overheating can be uncomfortable, disorienting, and deadly. META Lab partnered with Neramco LLC to engineer a cooling skullcap to address this problem. They also collaborate with the Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico & Federal University of Ceara, Brazil on adding a functional active envelope to SVETEX textiles for naval operators to enable energy harvesting, health monitoring, sensing, and active thermoregulation.
Sustainable footwear
Project Sponsors & Partners:
Advanced Functional Fabrics of America
Fashion Institute of Technology
Student design team: Leslie Yan, Sonja Feaster, Emily Genevriere, Max Kitabayashi (MITANDFIT workshop 2021).
Innovation & workforce development
Textile industry is driving innovation in polymer science, mechanical engineering, manufacturing techniques, optical engineering, and manufacturer-consumer interactions. The ongoing efforts to re-shore this industry fall short due to the lack of qualified workforce. Dr. Boriskina’s MIT Graduate Course ‘Fiber & Textile Engineering’ aims to fill this gap and brings innovation spirit into the classroom.
Space garments
Project Sponsors & Partners:
Deep space missions would take astronauts beyond the protective shield of the Earth’s magnetosphere, exposing them to hazardous space radiation. SVETEX textiles are being integrated into new spacesuit designs, such as the mechanical counterpressure MIT BioSuit™, and hold potential for applications in space electronics shielding, future space structures, and smart habitats, providing comprehensive protection against thermal, radiation, and dust hazards.
Outdoors SUMMIT collection by Karo Buttler
Top five in the CFDA Liz Claiborne Innovation Competition
