The Fabric of Defense
From thermal camouflage to next-generation combat uniforms, textile innovators are bringing together science, technology and manufacturing to protect the modern warfighter.
Back in June, space exploration company Axiom Space and designer brand Prada unveiled the Liquid Cooling and Ventilation Garment for astronauts. The marriage of Prada’s renowned luxury craftsmanship, specifically its engineered knitting expertise and familiarity with high-performance materials, with aerospace engineering, advanced product development and 3D modeling produced something the partners hope will revolutionize astronaut safety and ease of movement on the upcoming Artemis IV mission.
As Jonathan Cirtain, Axiom Space CEO and president, said, “The future of space exploration will not be built by any one entity alone,…. By bringing together the best in both aerospace engineering as well as luxury craftsmanship and advanced product development, we have developed a garment that neither company could have created independently, and that is exactly the kind of cross-industry thinking that will define the next era of human spaceflight.”
It’s that same kind of thinking that is being employed at Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (AFFOA), a Bedford, MA, USA-based 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization dedicated to “revitalizing U.S. textile manufacturing, and to accelerating textile technology and manufacturing breakthroughs to safeguard the nation, advance industry, and improve quality of life.”
AFFOA CEO Sasha Stolyarov describes it this way: “We try to take a technology perspective, looking at all the new capabilities coming out of universities and startups that could transition into differentiated products and help them leave the academic setting and move from a lab prototype to something that could actually be manufactured. We look at ourselves as a group of problem solvers.”
Seeking Solutions for Military Textile Challenges
AFFOA is currently accepting proposals for two projects with military applications: the Chemical Protective Textiles Challenge and Design for Manufacturability Prototype Garment Demonstration.
The former, a partnership with the Capability Program Executive for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense, part of the U.S. Department of Defense, is seeking textile materials that will “protect warfighters from hydrofluoric acid, hydrogen fluoride gas, jet and rocket fuel hazards, and related threats.”
The goal of the latter “is to validate manufacturability, cost impacts, and scalability of selected design changes through the fabrication of physical prototypes and associated manufacturing analysis.” AFFOA is looking for partners capable of producing prototypes for several types of combat uniforms, including fire-retardant and hot-weather garments, Marine Corps tropical wear, an “every day” Navy uniform, and an “Advanced Combat Pant.”
“We have a broad ecosystem of partners,” says Stolyarov, “from academic partners to startups and manufacturers and product companies. So, by bringing them all together and making connections, that’s how things happen. What are some of the problems that a company or government agency is facing, and how could textiles be part of the solution?”
Thermal Camouflage
One of the challenges facing modern-day troops is detection by increasingly sophisticated thermal imaging systems. As an example, in January 2026, Forbes reported that Ukraine’s “Baby Yaga” drones were particularly effective “in seeking out Russian troop formations and dropping mines, mortars, and other munitions on them. … In particular, the thermal imaging systems that enable night operations become more effective in cold weather, enhancing target detection and directly contributing to the increased impact of the Baba Yaga drones on the battlefield.”
Basically, everything emits a heat signature of some sort. Infrared cameras can detect and measure that energy, allowing everything from a tank to an individual soldier to be identified and potentially targeted.
AGC Plasma Technology Solutions is offering a crafty solution to the threat.
Part of Asahi Glass Co., AGC Plasma’s technology has its roots in the low-emissivity coatings applied to the glass covering many modern buildings, making them more efficient to heat and cool. The company specializes in adapting those coatings to other materials in a vacuum. A textile, for example, can be treated with hydrophobic coatings or metal and can even incorporate flexible circuitry.
As Stolyarov puts it, “A lot of times you want to bring together disparate materials and electronics to create something that’s soft, comfortable, and wearable.”
Last year, AGC Plasma introduced IR Stealth Textiles, a product coating designed to mask a soldier’s heat signature, effectively creating a new form of camouflage that could help prevent the wearer from being detected by infrared sensors.
AGC Plasma Business Development Manager, North America, Cameron Gottlieb explains, “These are coatings that we apply in a chamber—a metal box—that’s under vacuum condition, i.e., very low pressure. We can use those conditions to coat very thin layers (much thinner than a human hair) of materials onto a substrate—a textile, for example. There are no solvents. You’re actually creating a chemical bond between individual atoms or molecules. There’s no water, no drying, no solvents.”
“For the last 10 years, we’ve been developing new applications around vacuum coating technology, originally based on our glass coatings. The general trend in technical textiles has been towards high value, high functionality textiles that can compete with traditional dip-coated solutions,” says Gottlieb. “We’re looking at hydrophobic coatings, metallization, and even depositing flexible circuits. Stealth coatings is the application with which we’ve had the most traction by far. We were originally using these coatings on windows to block heat from the sun, making it more efficient to cool a room. Now we’re using essentially the same technology to reflect the infrared from a person back into themselves, so it’s not being emitted in any way, and renders the wearer invisible to heat detectors. It can also help keep the wearer warm, so we’re seeing this same tech being applied in the consumer market on things like outerwear and tents.”
And that consumer connection may ultimately prove just as interesting as the military application.
Gottlieb points out that technologies like these often emerge first from defense applications or NASA because of the considerable investment required to develop them. From there, the next stop might be a specialized athletic or outdoor company such as Nike or Patagonia, which can introduce the technology in high-end apparel at an equally high-end price.
Then, just like a trendy hue or fashionable silhouette, technology can trickle down through the market. Today’s military innovation could eventually find its way into performance outerwear, camping gear and other everyday products, perhaps even apparel sold through moderate retailers or fast-fashion venues.
The modern warrior may be the first to benefit, but almost certainly won’t be the last.
About the Author
John Russel Jones is a freelance writer based in St. Augustine, FL, the USA’s oldest city. He primarily covers men’s style, fitness, and grooming, but sustainability is a personal concern. When he’s not herding cats with his husband, he’s probably at the gym or hanging out. He’s on all the socials: @JohnRusselJones