RMIT University's School of Fashion and Textiles has secured $1.1 million in research grants to spearhead innovations in protective and sport performance textiles and apparel.
The grants with Bruck Textiles, Defence Material Technology Centre (DMTC) and Australian Wool Innovation will focus on researching new technology solutions for these categories, and see the university partner with global sporting brands on select projects.
Discipline head Dr Rajiv Padhye will lead a team of RMIT researches working on the projects over the next three years, along with program director and research cluster leader Olga Troynikov.
"RMIT will research existing and new materials and their combinations with special treatments, incorporating smart textiles, to develop protective textiles and apparel applications with enhanced comfort properties,” Dr Padhye said.
The Bruck Textiles project, funded by AusIndustry's Textile, Clothing and Footwear Strategic Capability Program, will develop protective textiles and apparel applications with enhanced comfort properties for workers.
The Commonwealth Government funded DMTC will explore blast mitigation fabrics with improved performance and physiological comfort qualities.
The Australian Wool Innovation project will investigate the thermo-physiological comfort advantages of wool fibre for competition sports garments and the development of adaptive intelligent garment systems to address their high performance requirements.
Troynikov said the project would involve collaboration with major global sporting brands and manufacturers to ensure relevant and comprehensive outcomes.
“There is a common platform between the projects in terms of high performance requirements that are expected of modern protective, performance and sports materials and garments,” Dr Troynikov said.
“The men and women who wear protective materials generally work in adverse conditions under high physiological stress, so there is a synergy between their performance and the performance of an athlete.”