The human touch: How do we define, determine, and deal with the tactile sense in the textile industry?
How do humans experience a fabric’s feel? What factors influence this perception, and what are the limits to the human tactile experience? How can textile professionals integrate textile haptic evaluation into digital systems? In this digital lab, textile industry experts, including researchers, product developers, technicians and chemical suppliers, come together to discuss both traditional and progressive methods for measuring the haptics of textiles and nonwovens and what can be done to improve the process. The two-day series features:
- an introduction to the fundamentals of haptics testing in the industry
- an overview of current testing methods and measuring instruments,
- a look at the advantages and disadvantages of different measuring methods
- ideas for leveraging haptic test results to improve quality assurance and product development
- a way to digitize, categorize, and easily communicate sample data using an online marketplace
- a live demonstration of the TSA Tactile Sensation Analyzer, a digital haptic testing instrument designed by the German manufacturer emtec Electronic, and discussion of results
Attendees can look forward to hearing perspectives from eight industry professionals from all over the world, including speakers from adidas, Lenzing, Black Swan Textiles, Cotton Incorporated, the Technical University of Dresden, and Dokuz Eylül University in Turkey.
Keith Hoover
Keith Hoover, President of Black Swan Textiles, addresses manufacturing-focused color and fabric development having implemented digital color management programs for Ralph Lauren, Target, Lands’ End, JCPenney, and Under Armour, ultimately leading to a process that eliminated labdips altogether. At Under Armour, Hoover championed the UA Lighthouse, driving digitalization and advanced manufacturing processes to enable local-for-local sourcing. He recently developed BlackOPS Fabric Decoder (BFD), a technology that digitizes fabric and provides comparable benefits to digital color.
Dr. Mohammad Abu-Rous
Dr. Mohammad Abu-Rous is a project manager at the department for Textile Fiber Research and Product Development at the Global R&D of Lenzing AG, Austria. He studied Chemical Engineering at the Technical University of Vienna and the University of Innsbruck in Austria. His field of activities at Lenzing includes the development of new fibers and product developments, and the design of praxis-near testing of textile thermos-physiological comfort, hygiene, haptics and surface characterization.
Lars Claussen
Lars Claussen is a trained textile engineer who received an MSc from Hochschule Niederrhein and a double bachelor’s degree from Hochschule Niederrhein and Tianjin Polytechnic University. Before starting his PhD, he gained industrial research experience in the field of textile auxiliaries. Lars Claussen joined the Environmental Ergonomics Research Centre at Loughborough School of Design and Creative Arts in April 2020, where he is doing a PhD in collaboration with Adidas. His research focuses on sportswear, testing methods, quality perception, and sustainability.
Alexander Gruener
Alexander Gruener studied economics at the University of Leipzig and joined emtec in 2011 as the sales area manager for North America, China, Australia and New Zealand. Today, he is responsible for the global marketing for emtec Electronic and the business development, e.g. introduction of emtec test devices to the textile industry worldwide.
Yordan Kyosev
Yordan Kyosev has a M.Sc. in Textile Engineering (1996), M.Sc. in Applied Mathematics and Informatics (2002), PhD in Textile Engineering (2002); Habiltation (D.Sc.) in Textile Technology (2019). 2006-2019 Professor for Textile Materials, Textile Technology and Quality Management at HS Niederrhein, Mönchengladbach, Germany; Since 2019 Professor and Chair Holder the chair “Development and Assembly of Textile Products”, TU Dresden, Germany
Stephen Payne
Stephen Payne graduated from Clemson University in 1996 with a bachelor’s degree in Textile Chemistry. His interest in the development of functional formulations started with antimicrobial treatments, that were designed to last the life of the garment. Which led Stephen to working in production, for the re-development and the creation of each application bath, to now have the research privilege to design functional finishes for Cotton.
Nazli Uren
Nazli Uren is a textile engineer with a PhD degree in physical testing of textiles and comfort assessments. She has several studies investigating conventional and novel test methods and measurement techniques for characterising surface and mechanical properties of textile structures.
