What if we could charge our mobile phones as we walk everyday. This is the idea behind an emerging field of research which deals with fabrics that can both generate and store electricity. The state-of-the-art technology used in this field is the textile triboelectric nanogenerator (T-TENG) technology. This technology is based on the well-known phenomenon of static electricity produced when you rub woolen clothes against each other, but applied to textile materials. So, T-TENG technology...

The Institute of Textile Science (ITS) Symposium 2026 took place March 3–4, 2026, bringing the textile research community together across three host cities — Montréal, Edmonton, and Raleigh — with remote attendees joining in over Zoom. It was one of the most accessible symposium editions yet, and it lived up to the hype. If you couldn't make it, here's a recap of what went down. A Cross-Border Affair ITS pulled off something ambitious this year: running the event live across three campuses at...