High-Performance Fibers Have Function, Not Fashion
June 6, 2005 | Levent OZLER
You hear "textiles," you think T-shirts. Or maybe you think Hanes, because that is Winston-Salem's home-grown brand name. If you're a fashionista, textiles might bring to mind a luxe embroidered fabric used by Oscar de la Renta or a sassy print from Betsey Johnson.
Even then, you're limiting yourself: There's actually an exciting world of textiles beyond apparel that you probably don't know about. And the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum is prepared to make the introduction.
The museum's "Extreme Textiles: Designing for High Performance" exhibit includes 150 textile applications from the worlds of architecture, medicine, transportation, aerospace and the environment, ranging from the air bags used to protect Mars Exploration Rovers to knitted bags that help people suffering from enlarged hearts.
These aren't textiles that are decorative, though some are visually interesting. Instead, they're fabrics that are high-performance, precisely engineered and functional to their core. Most are unfamiliar to the average person - for now - but they are already affecting daily life.
Consider the simple woven fabric that reinforces auto and bike tires, which has been in use for over 115 years.
On a recent tour of the exhibit, curator Matilda McQuaid highlights a racing boat that fills a solarium at the mansi
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