Materials and processes play an increasingly significant role in the development of new fashion products and can significantly affect product sustainability and longevity. These aspects, like many others, are part of the numerous issues associated with sustainability [1, 2]. The Fashion ecosystem has a high impact on society and the environment. Sustainability is an important issue for the textile and clothing industry associated with the different stages of the product life cycle and their impacts. The skills of specialists in fashion product development (FPD) and respective training will have to evolve towards increased knowledge of materials and processes; however, the academy is not keeping up with these changes that go along with the rapid transformation of the industry. There is a need for new competence acquisition models that are tailored to the present-day requirements. The objective of this investigation concerns the use and validation of a set of methodologies for the acquisition of skills by students, which allows for the development of sustainable fashion products for the market. Active methodologies that are being used, include workshops, competitions, industry partnerships, and PD in the context of companies and academy, and using trainers with experience in the industry. It concludes a progress in the knowledge of sustainable materials and processes combined with motivation.

The webs produced using a card as former system generally keep the fiber orientation. This effect is not very important for a great number of applications. But if an even pore distribution is necessary or the mechanical properties are to be uniform in all directions, then this system doesn’t work very well. Taking into account these considerations, a new technological solution has been specifically devised to control the fibre orientation during the drafting operation in pre-needled felts. A prototype is used as drafting unit with the rolls driven by stepper motors and controlled by computer. Two video cameras collect images of the surface of the web, before and after the drafting operation, and process them in a computer. The values of the images textural descriptors, are calculated and compared. It is intended an increase in entropy which means that the web become less ordered and this is the situation we are aiming for. A computer program will adjust automatically the speed and pressure of the drafting cylinders so as to achieve the best possible situation in terms of the isotropy of the final product and, consequently, MD:CD ratio close to 1. Keywords: Anisotropy, Nonwoven felts, Image analysis, Textural descriptors, Estiragem

The present research work aims at the integration of textile materials and electronic components for the development of a new electrotextile structure to be used in human medicine and healthcare, specifically, in monitoring sleep movements of patients with neurodegenerative disease such as Alzheimer and Parkinson’s. In this context, we sought the development of a new technological solution that allows not only to assess sleep quality, but also to establish a link between the nocturnal movements (body area, number of movements, direction, intensity) of demented patients and their polysomnographic recorded data. For this purpose, the authors developed an electroactive textile system, in order to acquire biomechanic information during the patients’ night rest. The collected data will be statistically processed to verify any relation between night movements and the stage of the disease. Keywords: Smart textiles, Sleep assessment, Polysomnography, Electrotextiles, Neurodegenerative diseases

The effectiveness of nanocrystalline titanium dioxide (TiO ₂ ) (P-25) in enhancing protection against ultraviolet rays and reducing photoinduced yellowing was evaluated through its application to wool fabrics and wool blends (such as wool–polyester and wool–polyester–spandex). The nanofinishing treatment was performed using a pad–dry–cure process, employing TiO ₂ concentrations ranging from 0.1 to 5 g/L. After 24 h of accelerated ultraviolet radiation, colorimetric analysis (using the CIELAB system) revealed that the TiO ₂ particles effectively reduced the rate of photoinduced yellowing (Δ E ), acting as an ultraviolet absorber that dissipates energy and protects the fibers or textile materials from photo-oxidation. Untreated fabrics showed considerably lower levels of ultraviolet protection than treated samples, and the experimental results demonstrated that all treated samples maintained excellent or very good ultraviolet protection factor ratings (up to 50+). Scanning electron microscopy confirmed the presence of TiO ₂ on the fiber surface. Furthermore, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and contact angle measurements confirmed that the treatment inhibited the formation of functional groups responsible for yellowing and reduced the increase in hydrophobicity. It can thus be concluded that nano-TiO ₂ finishing is an effective method for improving the photostability and performance of wool-based textiles.