PAWTUCKET – Fabric manufacturer Propel LLC won a first-place 2020 Innovation Award from the Industrial Fabrics Foundation for its 3D Smart Integrated Shirt project, according to the foundation.
Propel’s Clare King, Anjali Khemani and Birgit Leitner are the named inventors on the project, which has three pending patents, according to Propel. The project is funded by the U.S. Navy, with a Small Business Innovation Research grant.
The launderable garment, which measures the physiology of the wearer, is made of proprietary electrically enabled yarn that feels like a normal shirt but has the ability to conduct data and power with knitted e-textile sensors, Propel said in a statement. All shirt components are sourced in the U.S.
The project is detailed in this video, featuring Khemani and Leitner.
King takes the effort further, with a donation.
“I am donating the $5,000 in prize money that came with this award to the Department of Textiles, Fashion Merchandising and Design, College of Business at URI [the University of Rhode Island] in honor of professor Martin Bide, with whom Propel has consulted many times over the years,” King told PBN. “URI is about to start the search for TMD’s next textile science professor, and this new position is particularly key given the formation of 401TechBridge and the Rhode Island Textile Innovation Network. I am challenging other companies in the state to contribute as well and will add up to another $5,000 on a 1-for-2 basis, to see if we can get to $20,000 for TMD to support future research efforts.”
The Industrial Fabrics Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the education and research in specialty fabrics. It partners with the Industrial Fabrics Association International to support growth and innovation.
The foundation’s second-place Honorable Mention Innovation Award went to an Ohio company, MMI Textiles, for its EcoThriv line of environmentally preferred performance fabrics.
Susan Shalhoub is a PBN contributing writer.
