Advanced Functional Fabrics of America Institute

Credit: Jessica Dowell | Date Taken: 05/01/2019
AFFOA’s vision is a globally competitive, domestic supply chain in advanced fibers and fabrics. The institute delivers breakthrough capabilities and innovations for national security through de-risking university technologies, non-traditional defense contractor participation, and the development of advanced textile systems. AFFOA centralizes the revolutionary fiber and fabric technology capabilities of startups, manufacturers, industry and academia and organizes them to produce and manufacture advanced textile systems for DoD and commercial markets. AFFOA addresses the spectrum of manufacturing challenges associated with developing and scaling advanced fibers and textiles from design through pilot production, helping to transition innovative technologies, and training the next generation manufacturing workforce. The institute’s Fabric Innovation Network (FIN) of member companies enables the development and commercialization of textile products that can see, hear, sense, communicate, store energy, regulate temperature, monitor health, and change color while delivering the conventional qualities of fabrics to benefit the commercial consumer and warfighter.