Lilliputian concepts outperforming Gigantism: It’s the age of Nano-technology
While chunky still rules the roost of the fashion domain, the insides of all things big have shrunk to an amazing smallness. Nanotechnology has now occupied the center stage for all most every commercialized lifestyle application – especially textile and cosmetics – making nano-materials the heartthrob of the 21st century consumers. It is high time that we learn about it.
Textile processing, as we knew of it, is a thing passé ever since nano technology jumped in; it is the methods that are now improving the textile properties to make them last longer besides imparting them newer functionalities. Thus, concepts like energy storage have surfaced along with a few other opportunities that are bound to transform (if not improve) the way we look at the functionality of textiles.
Nano-technology has brought forth new dimensions in stain repellent and anti-wrinkle concepts; it has introduced PCM (Phase Change Materials) that respond to altering body temperatures; it fights infection and odor and more than everything, it is now changing the regular shirt to full-proof body armors. Thanks to the Nano-tube fibers and their 17X strength if compared to Kevlar; in this era when terrorism is a surmounting phenomenon, it has provided the option of saving many an innocent life in case of sudden shootouts. But that’s just the tip that we can see of a colossal iceberg; to understand a little more where nano-technology can lead fashion to, we need to peep into the SMI (smart and interactive) textiles.
These are the textiles that can sense electrical, chemical, thermal, magnetic or any other stimuli. The stepping-stone in this aspect is the photo-chromic t-shirts and we are to see more as the days pass.
But it’s hardly effective wearing such high-tech cloth unless you exude the aura of youth. Nano technology paved the path for a healthier look as well; now, there are anti-wrinkle creams comprising nano-capsules that push active ingredients deeper into the skin’s layers. Couple it up with the Titanium dioxide crystals (40 nm in size) and you get a powerful oxidizing agent to destroy all airborne germs and pollutants, making you benefit overall from the blessings of the new face of engineering science.