Prof. Jintu Fan, Chair Professor and Head of Institute of Textile and Clothing at PolyU, was featured in TVB programme Futurescope (看出個未來) to introduce the future fabrics developed by PolyU. PolyU has cooperated with various brands to launch series of functional clothing, including the sportswear worn by Hong Kong athletes in the Winter Olympics.
Prof. Fan believes integrating smart devices into sportswear will become the trend in the future. He pointed out that while wearable electronic devices has increased by 28% per annum in the past decade, they anticipated that the growth will reach 40% per annum in the next ten years.
He revealed that his team is conducting a research on "skin-like" fabric. Unlike the existing breathable fabrics in the market, the "skin-like" fabric even mimics the sweating glands underneath our skin, as such the water transmission rate is much higher than the commercial breathable fabrics.
Apart from human body, animals and plants are also the imitating targets when designing fabrics. One of the PolyU's invention is a thin membrane that imitates leaves. Like a leaf, there are pores on the membrane which will open under humid environment, so provides a better ventilation and hence comfortability to the wearer. It is believed that amid the pandemic, the use of such future fabrics will be widely extended, including personal protection gears.
Prof. Fan also expects that the weather will be getting more and more extreme in the future, and these fabrics will help our body maintaining normal biological status under these extreme circumstances.
| TVB | 看出個未來 | 28 January 2021 |
| Research Units | School of Fashion and Textiles |
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