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Hyperlite mountain gear expands
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into technical apparel Cotton that is grown to glow

Since the Eli Whitney’s gin, the glowing cotton is stand a bit about how the biochemistry works and
believed to be the biggest advancement in cotton you respect that, then you’ll be able to integrate new
technology. The scientists have found a way to functionality and eventually create new materials,” he
augment the fibers with useful new properties. says. The group of scientist just modified the glucose
Around 7 to 8 thousand year ago the humans figured molecules and the cotton ovules did all the work of
out these natural fibers of the cotton plants produce incorporating them into the fibers.
could be spun into strands and can also be woven
into fabrics. During the Industrial revolution and even
after that, cotton remained one of the most valuable
commodities of the world. It has also helped to drive
the slave trade in the European and African regions.

According to Filipe Natalio, a chemist at the Weiz-
mann Institute of Science in Israel, cotton can still do
better, even thou it is already considered as the most
divers and marvelous commodity on earth. Natalio
demonstrates a way to enhance cotton with new
properties in a new paper in Science. He’s made
Hyperlite Mountain Gear, a manufacturer of 100% and refine a highly durable, waterproof breathable fibers that glow and fibers that are magnetic. His
USA-made ultralight outdoor equipment, is launching fabric for The Shell ultralight technical jacket. Known team of researchers in Israel, Germany, and Austria
its first-ever outerwear product with The Shell, an as Dyneema Composite Fabrics with waterproof used sugar molecules to sneak new properties into
ultralight technical jacket weighing between 5.16 and breathable properties, also known as DCF-WPB, the cotton. They tested the method by tagging glucose
6.20 ounces, depending on the size. fabric is said to achieve the optimal balance of with a fluorescent dye molecule that glows green
weight and durability consistent with all Hyperlite when hit with the right kind of light.
All Hyperlite Mountain Gear products utilise Mountain Gear products, while the eVent membrane
Dyneema fabrics; materials incorporated with the provides the waterproof, windproof and They bathed cotton ovules—the part of the plant that
strongest man-made fibres that are 15 times high-breathability characteristics achieved through makes the fibers—in the glucose. And just like
stronger than steel in weight per weight ratio. eVent’s patented air permeable waterproof flowers suck up dyed water in grade school experi- There were a number of other researches conducted
Working closely with Dyneema, St. Pierre helped test technology. ments, the ovules absorbed the sugar solution and in the past to deal with the construction of augment-
piped the tagged glucose molecules to their cells. As ed fibers. But past work has mostly been on synthetic
the fibers grew, they took on a yellowish tinge—and fibers, like polyester, and has focused on coating the
fibers rather than embedding the functionality inside
glowed bright green under ultraviolet light. Later the
Enhanced silk, strong as carbon fibre group took about six months to be sure they were them. Natalio argues that his approach is sturdi-
actually delivering the fluorescent protein into the
er—the modifications his group made are fundamen-
cotton cells and not just coating the fibers in it. Once tal to the fibers and can’t be worn away. They said
A team of scientist led by Nicola Pungo at the the strongest carbon fibres or of limpet teeth.” they were certain, they decided to push the envelope that their paper does show some evidence that the
University of Trento-Italy, have successfully combined with something very unnatural: magnets. In the next additions they made might change cotton’s proper-
the spider silk with the grapheme and carbon The report further states that; “Our proof-of-concept try the team of Natalio modified glucose with the rare ties for the worse.
nano-tubes, resulting in production of a composite experiment paves the way to exploiting the naturally earth metal dysprosium, making a molecule that acts
material that is five times stronger. This silk incorpo- efficient spider spinning process to produce like a magnet. And just like they did with the dye, the A number of other experiments were done to add
rated graphene and carbon nanotubes are produced reinforced silk fibres, thus further improving one of researchers fed it to cotton ovules and ended up with different functionalities to the cotton. The reason for
by spider spinning, after feeding spiders with water the most promising silk materials, as compared to fibers with magnetic properties. these researches is the belief that cotton could be
containing the nanotubes, said the Sydney Morning synthetic recombinant silks.” dyed blue before it’s picked, simplifying the produc-
Herald report. The study states in its final reports It’s not going to make a t-shirt you can decorate like tion of blue jeans. Natalio also envisions cotton
that; “Spiders placed in an environment with water “This procedure of natural integration of reinforce- your refrigerator, but that’s not the only use for plants with unique molecular signatures, like
solutions containing nanotubes or graphene may ments in biological structural materials could also be magnetism. Almost all digital storage is done mag- barcodes. That would let manufacturers track their
produce dragline silk with enhanced mechanical applied to other animals and plants, leading to a new netically—in your phone, your computer, Amazon’s fabric from the seed to stores so they could
properties, realizing the highest fibre toughness to class of bionicomposites for innovative applications” servers. According to Natalio this research shows the promise their products were fully organic or
date, combined with a strength comparable to that of it added. power of adapting natural processes. “If you under- 100% fair trade.

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