Taiwan Today

Taiwan’s versatile smart textiles are providing higher levels of comfort and contributing to healthier lifestyles.

Every year since 1997, the Taipei Innovative Textile Application Show (TITAS) has highlighted the latest fabrics and related technologies Taiwan has to offer. The most recent edition, held in October 2017, largely centered on materials that are multifunctional, smart and manufactured in an eco-friendly manner. “New textiles made by Taiwan companies are designed to excel outdoors, offering properties such as breathability as well as wind, water and ultraviolet resistance,” said Justin Huang (黃偉基), president of Taiwan Textile Federation (TTF), the industry association that organizes TITAS. “The products are increasingly high-tech too, a result of partnerships between the textiles and electronics industries.”

Taiwan is the worldwide hub of functional fabrics production. According to Huang, more than 70 percent of all outdoor sportswear products sold globally are made using materials from Taiwan factories. Local firms, not content to rest on their laurels, are forging ahead with new products to give consumers more and better options when it comes to apparel. The growing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events are also major factors in the drive toward improved functional fabrics. “Taiwan’s companies are constantly upgrading their products to make sure people are comfortable rain, hail or shine,” said Fang Kwo-hwa (方國華), chief of the Fabric and Apparel Section of the Department of Products at Taiwan Textile Research Institute (TTRI), a nonprofit government-supported research organization.

In late 2017, U.S.-based market analysis firm Research N Reports estimated global consumption of functional textiles at around 34 million tons for that year, adding that this number would likely rise to 57 million by 2027. “The local textiles industry is poised to benefit from recent trends, and its future to a great extent lies in the R&D conducted by organizations like TTRI,” Fang said. Another such facility is the Material and Chemical Research Laboratories of the state-sponsored Industrial Technology Research Institute. It focuses on how to impart functional properties on fabrics, whereas Fang’s department is tasked with incorporating such innovations into apparel design.

Enterprises like GFun Industrial Corp. in northern Taiwan’s Taoyuan City also play a significant role in advancing the nation’s textiles sector. The company, founded in 1999, enhances materials used by dozens of global brands such as Jack Wolfskin and The North Face, utilizing its microporous coating and lamination technology to make fabrics virtually waterproof yet breathable. “Many firms can make waterproof textiles, but it’s not as easy to let moisture produced by your body pass through the same fabric,” said Daniel Jong (鍾道榮), deputy general manager of GFun. The treatments his company engineers are industry leaders, with National Geographic Channel last year licensing GFun to design, produce and market clothing bearing its brand in Taiwan.

According to Jong, who oversees the R&D department, one major challenge for the textiles industry is developing eco-friendly production processes without sacrificing functional properties. For example, solvents have long been used by companies like GFun, and finding alternatives to the environmentally damaging chemicals is an expensive, drawn-out process. “Some solvents are recycled and reused, and others are treated before they are emitted. But the best solution, as far as environmental protection is concerned, is to go solvent-free,” Jong explained. To address the issue, his firm has spent seven years trying to engineer a method to replace its solvent-intensive practices without reducing functionality. “Our research team is quite close to that goal now, and GFun is already phasing out solvents,” he said.

High-Tech Threads

As textile products are made increasingly comfortable and eco-friendly, they are also becoming smarter thanks to the industry’s cooperation with the electronics sector. According to Shen Chien-lung (沈乾龍), chief of the Smart Textiles Section of TTRI’s Department of Products, developers of smart clothing target two groups of users: sports enthusiasts and medical care recipients. This means the emerging segment requires resources from various fields. Of the 12 members in his section, only one majored in textiles, said Shen, who is a biomedical engineer by training.

Taiwan’s first foray into this cross-industry frontier began at TTRI in the early 2000s. Shen noted that at the time, the fledgling smart textiles sector did not receive much attention due to questions about its profitability. Thanks to recent advances, however, “all major Taiwan players are working to develop smart textiles and have to innovate to keep up with the times,” he said.

This trend was reflected in the April 2017 founding of the Taiwan Smart Textile Alliance, a group consisting of more than 40 businesses from the textiles and electronics industries. Core member Taipei City-based Tex-Ray Industrial Co. is a well-established producer of functional textiles and generally deemed one of the sector’s most ambitious pioneers.

The company entered the field in 2001 through its subsidiary King’s Metal Fiber Technologies Co., which was tasked with developing conductive yarns to transmit biometric information. In 2009, Tex-Ray established AiQ Smart Clothing Inc. with the purpose of combining functional materials with embedded electronic devices to process wearer data. So far, the parent company has invested around NT$300 million (US$10 million) in its smart clothing venture. It also partners with firms in related industries such as JoiiUp Technology Inc., creator of a mobile app that collects and presents data gathered from users’ clothing. Marketing of the products bearing the name AiQ started in 2016, with the company becoming Taiwan’s most recognizable smart clothing brand, according to Shen.

Tony Lin (林宗頤‬), manager of Tex-Ray’s R&D and Marketing Department, noted that sales of smart clothing are currently most vibrant in the area of sports. “Through analysis of biosignals, professional athletes and everyday enthusiasts can improve performances and gauge how efficient exercise or training sessions are. In terms of safety, smart clothing can give you an alert if your exercise routine is too intense,” Lin added. The technology for detecting heart rates is the most mature, he said, but those for gauging blood pressure, body temperature and blood oxygen levels are increasingly sophisticated as well.

Vital Components

Smart textiles are constantly improving in detection accuracy and washability, Lin said, and they are starting to play a bigger role in health care. In December 2015, Tex-Ray became one of the first companies in Taiwan to enter this field when its garments were introduced to a nursing home run by Min Sheng Hospital in northern Taiwan’s Taoyuan City. Staffers at the facility use smart clothing to better monitor and treat residents. This technology also helps improve response times to emergency situations or when abnormalities are detected.

The great potential of smart wear has not gone unnoticed by forward-looking enterprises like Far Eastern New Century Corp. The textile conglomerate signed memorandums of understanding at last year’s TITAS with Valmed, a Swizerland-based health services provider, and L.L. Bean Inc., a U.S. outdoor apparel and equipment company. The former agreement outlines plans to jointly develop smart clothing-based solutions for preventing or treating muscular dystrophy, while the latter focuses on efforts to produce a line of high-tech clothing for skiers.

Lin noted that sales of smart wear, which is expensive to produce and priced accordingly, still account for only a fraction of his company’s revenues. Shen said efforts in Taiwan to develop the segment have a long way to go, but local businesses and organizations are trying to make the environment more favorable for growth. The TTRI section chief cited public and private sector measures to formulate industrial standards and specifications for smart textiles as an integral step in sector development.

According to Fang, the more versatile the industry wants its products, the more challenges textiles researchers face. “When you add electronic components to clothes, you need to ensure that they remain light and breathable,” he said, adding “there are always new frontiers to explore.”

Write to Oscar Chung at mhchung@mofa.gov.tw