AFFOA Meeting at UGA

FEATURE STORIES: Fabric revolution

About 90 leaders from the fabric and textile industry, along with researchers and military officials, discussed the future of fabrics and textiles in the digital era during AFFOA Industry Day at the University of Georgia Oct. 20.

The representatives—half of them from industry—discussed the future of the Advanced Functional Fabrics of America partnership. AFFOA, a public-private partnership launched this spring and funded in part by a $75 million commitment from the U.S. Department of Defense, seeks to accelerate innovation involving fibers and textiles through advances in manufacturing and engineering.

The conference was jointly sponsored by the UGA Office of the Vice President for Research, the College of Family and Consumer Sciences and the College of Engineering.

"The meeting was meant to bridge recent advantages from material science academic labs and the modern manufacturing capabilities of the fiber and textile industry," said Sergiy Minko, Georgia Power Professor of Polymers, Fibers and Textiles in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences and professor in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences department of chemistry.

"The event was designed to bring U.S textile and clothing manufacturers to the highest point of modern materials science, with a major goal to create new jobs in this country," Minko said. "Training and workforce development for the new market was one of the key topics of our discussions."

"We're joining with companies large and small, universities and startup incubators from around the U.S. to drive a manufacturing-based revolution by transforming traditional fibers, yarns and fabrics into highly sophisticated systems and devices for both consumer and defense applications," said Gajanan Bhat, the Georgia Athletic Association Professor of Fibers and Textiles within the FACS department of textiles, merchandising and interiors.

One of the industry speakers was FACS alumna Tosha Hays (pictured above), co-founder of brrrº Inc., which develops and commercializes textile technologies. The company's launch material is a cooling technology which lowers skin temperature 2 to 3 degrees F. The company licenses its technology to global brands across multiple consumer categories.

"It was very inspiring having the AFFOA team participate," Hays said after the event. "Their brilliant minds cause a ripple effect of inspiration to everyone involved.

"The barcode fabric was a tangible result of what this innovation can do—the tip of the iceberg, so to speak," Hays said.

"The network is key," she added. "Working together toward one goal with each individual or company contributing their own expertise can make incredible things happen."

Yoel Fink, AFFOA CEO, introduced AFFOA’s bold mission to the audience. He described AFFOA’s strong industrial support and the broad industry, academic and government coalition that has formed a nationally distributed rapid prototyping foundry. He predicted that, with these resources in place, we would witness “Moore’s law for fibers” – the functionality of fibers increasing dramatically each year.

“In order realize our mission of transforming textile manufacturing into a hi-tech, value-added industry in which the U.S. is the world-wide leader, we are basing our technology and manufacturing roadmaps on intellectual property,” he said. “IP will help us ensure that the advancements we are investing in are manufactured here, to benefit the nation.”

In addition, Fink said, AFFOA is performing the first national modern textile manufacturing workforce needs assessment, and mapping existing workforce training resources across the country in order to match current and future industries’ needs with capabilities through strategic investment.

Among the other speakers who addressed the group was Ramanathan Nagarajan, a senior research scientist with the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center, who discussed emerging textile materials for Department of Defense needs.

During lunch, industry representatives and academic researchers got the opportunity for direct interaction at a poster session with 36 posters from UGA, Clemson and others highlighting some of the latest advances in fiber science.

"In addition to providing a forum for technical exchange on potential research collaborations between universities and industry, the poster session was a great opportunity for students to connect directly with industry, get feedback on their work and understand more about industry needs," said Crystal Leach, director of Discovery and Innovation Partnerships at UGA.

Members of the AFFOA partnership include Fortune 500 companies as well as small and medium-sized companies spanning the electronics, materials, apparel, transportation, fashion, defense, medical and consumer good manufacturing sectors.

It also includes leaders of the fabric industry, such as Inman Mills, and leading research universities MIT, Drexel University and the University of Texas at Austin.

In addition to Minko and Bhat, other UGA researchers who play critical roles in AFFOA include Suraj Sharma, associate professor in the department of textiles, merchandising and interiors in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences, and Jason Locklin, associate professor in the College of Engineering and department of chemistry in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.

Researchers from the Complex Carbohydrate Research Center who conduct research on biopolymers also will contribute to research and development of new technical textiles. Innovation Gateway, UGA's commercialization and startup arm, will be instrumental in bringing new technologies to the market, including a portfolio of 10 existing textile, fiber and polymer technologies.

The AFFOA Industry Day was a part of the College of Family and Consumer Sciences' FACS Week, the college's signature event that celebrates communities, academic excellence and the future of families.

by Erin

New Fashion Technology Pioneered by Former Spanx Executives

It’s only fitting that the fashion technology to create a cooling fabric would come out of Atlanta. The moisture-wicking fabric stays cool and also provides UV/SPF protection. The innovative textile is the product of two former Spanx, Inc. executives, Mary-Cathryn Kolb and Tosha Hays.

Their company, brrrº will sell clothing and accessories made with the fabric and is currently wrapping up a funding round that includes investors such as Bob Kavner, Doug Sellers, and Larry Marcus.

They plan to keep the company’s headquarters in Atlanta and currently sell home goods, baby clothing, and women’s accessories through their website brrrcool.com

by Erin

brrrº is fashion meets innovation

For more than five years, Mary-Cathryn Kolb kept a journal of good ideas, inspired inventions and business concepts. Two years ago, she called a friend she formerly worked with at Spanx, Tosha Hays, and asked to meet for coffee. They bonded while brainstorming on a design for a bra for breast cancer patients. Then, Kolb shared the pages of that journal, running ideas by Hays who listened with interest, but not feeling the fire until Kolb described a high-tech fashion fabric that was cool to the touch. The Buckhead women and their husbands, met every Sunday for four months, honing the idea and developing a viable business plan while their five (now six) children played together. They unabashedly asked business savvy friends to listen to their pitch and contribute financial, marketing and manufacturing know-how to the plan. In November of 2014, they launched a fashion technology company, brrrºTM and created a proprietary cool-touch fabric that is moisture wicking, offers SPF protection and is permanently cooling due to a compilation of all-natural ingredients. The fabric has a patent pending and the line got a thumbs-up from the people at QVC here in the USA, and will be on air on QVC Italy in June.

Here in Buckhead in September, their stunning ready-to-wear collection debuted at Neiman Marcus with in-store events, curated shopping experiences, a fashion show and reception attracting fashion conscious shoppers and a tribe of supportive friends. In November, they traveled to Milan, Italy, to participate in Decoded Fashion, a world-wide consortium for technology and fashion accepting the top award for textile innovation.  brrrº will license its brrrXTM proprietary technology to some of the world’s most recognized brands, under the “cooled only by brrrº” trademark.

The Atlanta-based, women-owned global fashion-tech startup now also manufactures men’s ready-to-wear, accessories and home goods.

“We were thrilled to debut our ready-to-wear collection with Neiman Marcus,” says Mary-Cathryn who serves as CEO of brrrº.  “What a tremendous partner to escort brrrº into the inner circle of fashion and introduce our brand to fashion-conscious women looking for stylish solutions that will fit their everyday life.” You can find brrrº clothing and accessories at Dillard’s, smaller boutiques and online at brrr.com. The beautiful silky, marbled fabric is their signature.

The trip to Milan was fascinating and fast, said chief innovation officer, Tosha Hays. They were among the world’s strongest and smartest high fashion textile thinkers and designers. Next up for the entrepreneurs are brrrº Baby, brrrº Bedding, men’s underwear and a new spring line. “We are working on some exciting licensing opportunities and for the next phase of brrrº's innovative textile technology we are partnering with University of Georgia’s Textile School,” she says.

Outside their office on Pharr Road, their lives explode with activity. They each have a set of twins, plus one “singlet” (Tosha’s term – she has all boys, MC has all girls).  These busy moms have honed skills in focus and creativity, whipping up healthy snacks for their brood and helping with homework while strategizing for the future of their innovative and fashion-forward enterprise.

by Erin

brrrº Neiman Marcus Launch

Runway Chic - Neiman Marcus Fashion Show from brrrº on Vimeo.

by Erin

Chill Out! brrrº clothing is designed to keep you looking and feeling cool.

You know the soothing sensation of flipping over a clammy pillow to rest your cheek on the fresh, cool side? That’s the feeling Tosha Hays and Mary-Cathryn Kolb hope to bottle up with their new Atlanta-based fashion­-tech company, brrrº.

The two Georgia natives and former Spanx execs have developed a patent-pending textile that they claim is the first truly cooling fabric. Similar-sounding textiles for athletic performance wear are focused on moisture-wicking, but the flowy garments Hays and Kolb have created actually cool as they move through the air. (The exact science is proprietary, but it involves the size of the yarn and the way the fabric is knit.)

So far brrrº includes a small women’s ready-to-wear collection, a lower-priced line (pullovers, joggers, and tees) called brrrº Basics, scarves dubbed CoolWraps, and accessories. Their target customers are busy women like themselves (they both have three children, including a set of twins each) who need to transition seamlessly from work to play to events. One of the standout pieces is a sleek but comfy column maxi dress (on Hays, at right) that’s as fit for lounging as for evening.

A dress from a line named brrrº may not sound like something appropriate for your January wardrobe. But Hays and Kolb claim brrrº is more comfortable and more “thoughtful to the body” than traditional cottons (it does feel refreshing to the touch). They insist brrrº is a year-round fabric that could line the insides of coats and the underarms of cardigans, and, yes, even be stitched into a pillowcase.

PHOTOGRAPH BY RYAN HAYSLIP

The pair also emphasize that, unlike other cooling garments on the market, brrrº is first and foremost a style-driven product. “We’re fashion girls,” says Kolb at her Buckhead office, looking much the part in a brrrº maxi dress and a blowout.

Hays, 41, the company’s chief innovation officer, has been immersed in textiles her entire life. She grew up the daughter of a cotton fiber exec in tiny Musella (population 1,304), 32 miles from Macon and home to one of the state’s few remaining cotton gins, owned by her father. After studying fashion merchandising at UGA, Hays began her career in New York at Tommy Hilfiger. In 2006 she joined Spanx and moved swiftly up the ladder to director of design, becoming intimately familiar with yarns, fibers, and technology, and traveling the world to meet with mills, factories, and textile innovators.

Kolb, 36, brrrº’s CEO, also has roots in small-town Georgia. A Thomasville native, she studied communications at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, where she met Blake Mycoskie, who went on to found Toms Shoes and hired her as his first employee. After years in sales positions in L.A. and New York, she started at Spanx in 2007 and soon became sales director.

In 2014 the pair left Spanx, launching brrrº with a fall collection the following year at a Neiman Marcus trunk show. They also released brrrº Basics in five Dillard’s stores across the country, including the Perimeter Mall location.

SKETCH COURTESY OF brrrº

This spring Hays and Kolb will reveal the company’s second collection. While the fall release was full of slinky and stretchy dresses, colorful scarves, and silky pants, the spring line showcases a more structured woven fabric (think creamy oxford shirts and shirtdresses).

Still, “our product isn’t this shirt or that dress,” says Hays, pointing at a rack of clothing. “It’s the technology. Fashion is just the vehicle for it.” Ultimately they hope to license their textile to other fashion brands (imagine a brrrº by Diane von Furstenberg wrap dress) and soft goods manufacturers—even the military.

“Our goal is to lead the fashion-tech revolution,” says Hays. They’ve already garnered significant industry recognition, most recently at a global fashion-tech summit called Decoded in Milan. Hays is a charter member of national nonprofit (and MIT partner) Advanced Functional Fabrics of America, and they have even received seed funding from Silicon Valley. “We want people to think of us as technology that solves problems,” says Hays.

One concept solves a problem we never knew we had. brrrº-lined clutches— or “mobile igloos”—come with a freezer gel pack to keep lipstick, iPhones, even water bottles and snacks cool all day.

by Erin