At one time, textile products simply had to fulfil their basic function—a shirt had to cover your torso, upholstery covered furniture so it could be comfortable, and so on. Like all products, as time passed, textile brands began looking for ways to give people more than just the basic function, with two examples being sports apparel adding sweat wicking, and upholstery innovating stain resistance.
Why do brands do this? To differentiate their product from those products that don’t offer these additional improvements.
These days, many of the past innovations, like sweat wicking, are now the basics of what athletic apparel should offer. In other words, if an athletic shirt doesn’t have sweat wicking, it’s pretty much failed in its basic functionality.
So, where can textile brands turn to next for additional benefits that will differentiate their products? The answer may be in the rapidly growing wellness market. According to a 2021 McKinsey & Company report, consumers are extremely interested in wellness, with 79% of the respondents saying they believe wellness is important and 42% percent saying they consider it a top priority.
If wellness can become a part of textile products, and add value above and beyond basic functionality, then brands have true differentiation that leads to customer loyalty.
Of course, with all of the textile advancements and healthy fabric technologies cropping up, it is important to use a vetted ingredient brand whose claims are backed by science and proven through testing. To learn about what you should look for when selecting the best wellness technology for your fabrics, click here.
With that said, let’s take a look at five textile innovations that are bringing added value to textile products through health and wellness technology.
With the rise of electronics technologies, such as smartphones, people are increasingly concerned about how these technologies affect their health. Phones, wireless internet, and Bluetooth all create electromagnetic fields that can cause cellular stress and damage. Enter electromagnetic blocking textiles, or EMF protection fabrics, which are designed to create a barrier between the wearer and the electromagnetic radiation.
This innovation is best applied in apparel and two brands are excellent examples. Lambs is the world’s first radiation-proof apparel. Their technology is called WaveStopper™ and, according to their website, is directly inspired by spacesuit technology, blocking 99% of wireless radiation, and is tested and certified in military-grade laboratories.
Belly Armor is a brand that focuses on maternity and family apparel as well as educating their consumers about the effects of radiation from the technology that surrounds us. Belly Armor’s proprietary technology is called RadiaShield® Fabric and, according to their website, is a conductive silver textile with high shielding effectiveness against electromagnetic radiation emitted by common cellular and wireless devices.
The lymphatic system maintains fluid levels in body tissues by removing all fluids that leak out of our blood vessels. It’s important for the optimal functioning of immune responses. Lymphatic massage is a technique of massage that is intended to help the lymphatic system function more effectively. The treatment came to real prominence in 2020 through the influence of celebrity wellness trends.
Today, the concept of lymphatic massage has found its way into textile technology in apparel. These are clothes that are designed to help the lymphatic system function better just like a lymphatic massage.
Elastique is an apparel brand that differentiates itself with lymphatic drainage technology. Their patented MicroPerle Beads are, according to their website, strategically mapped to the body’s lymphatic system which works to boost the body’s ability to detox and increases immune defenses.
Antimicrobial fabric often uses silver-ion, has many textile product applications, including apparel and upholstery. This innovation works to inhibit or eliminate microbes in textiles that cause odors or mold or mildew and also decreases the number of washes the textile needs, possibly extending its useful life by minimizing the breakdown over time that can come with frequent washing.
Crypton, one of CELLIANT®’s fabric partners, are world-leaders in functional textiles and performance fabrics. Their Crypton Barrier Fabric product gives the assurance of an EPA-approved silver-ion antimicrobial protection as well as being disinfectable.
Marine collagen can function as a natural fiber made from ocean collagen peptides, derived from recycled fish scales. Marine collagen fabric is known for being extremely soft, moisturizing the skin and protecting from UV radiation. This innovation is perfect for apparel that can help enhance beauty and skin health.
Buki, an apparel company, has a Collagen capsule collection that they claim caresses, softens and hydrates the skin.
Infrared textiles are a textile innovation that has many applications and wellness benefits. CELLIANT is the world leader in infrared textile technology, using a proprietary blend of naturally occurring minerals that capture and convert body heat into full-spectrum infrared energy.
The infrared penetrates the skin and soft tissue resulting in increased local circulation. This has been shown to have benefits for performance by increasing strength, stamina and endurance, speed recovery from physical activity, and promoting restful sleep.
CELLIANT infrared technology is applicable to a number of industries and product types:
We partner with like-minded brands to bring wellness to as many people as possible. To that end, we have fabric partnerships that combine technologies, such as our partnership with Crypton, and that combine our technology with sustainable fabrics, like our CELLIANT with REPREVE rPET and our CELLIANT Viscose fiber that’s created in partnership with Kelheim Fibres.
There is no doubting the rapidly increasing popularity of wellness fabrics focused on helping people live healthier. In this overall trend towards healthy fabrics, CELLIANT is the leader in infrared textile technology that delivers passive wellness benefits to people through a variety of product applications. Brands that want to differentiate and remain competitive need to look at how wellness technology can apply to their products.
If you’d like to learn more about how infrared technology can help your brand and products, we’d love to hear from you. Fill out the form below to get in touch with our Business Development team.
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