Kodak Announces Launch of New York Textile Test Facility
Kodak may be known for its advancements in photography, but it’s branching out into the textile industry.
The 135-year-old Rochester, N.Y.-based company on Tuesday announced the opening of a Textile Test Facility, which it said will offer a “comprehensive range” of testing services to textile developers and producers, as well as academic institutions researching material performance. The facility will make use of Eastman Kodak’s existing infrastructure and expertise in chemicals and materials, and will be a part of the company’s Rochester campus.
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Recently, Kodak began manufacturing light-blocking fabrics under the brand name “Kodalux,” which are developed using a foam coating made from cellulose. The one-step, plant-based chemistry requires less water, energy and chemicals than conventional solutions, and the equipment used for processing the fabrics is repurposed from Kodak’s other operations. Textile products are made without the use of flock, a flammable component which has been traditionally used to achieve light-blocking properties. Kodak said the simplicity of the application process enables localized manufacturing, reducing supply chain complexity.
Kodak’s lab is International Organization for Standardization (ISO) certified for providing NFPA 701 fire retardancy testing for textile products, and the location will also offer testing for fabric color fastness, light blocking and room darkening for applications like curtains, tensile strength, tear resistance, stiffness and abrasion. The Textile Test Facility will also provide objective characterizations of a textile’s hand and drape properties, with all assessments based on American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) or American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists (AATCC) methodologies.
“Our new service makes it easy for customers in the textile industry to access most sophisticated fabric testing procedures,” Kodak senior vice president of advanced materials and chemicals and chief technical officer Terry Taber said. Fabric developers and manufacturers can utilize the lab’s capabilities to benchmark their creations against “the most exacting standards,” he added. “Looking forward, we are committed to expanding the scope of this initiative with additional test resources to meet customer needs.”
Kodak has been expanding its portfolio of products in recent years to include direct-to-garment inks, fabric pre-treatments, and film-to-fabric print systems that allow apparel makers to transfer images to garments made from both cotton and synthetics. In 2014, the company teamed up with North Carolina textile innovator PurThread Technologies to embed a silver-based antimicrobial agent developed by Kodak into synthetic fibers for medical and performance textiles. At the time, the groups said the technology was derived from Kodak’s longstanding expertise in producing silver-based photosensitive materials for use in photography products.
Kodak registered the re-purposed non-nano silver with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the joint innovation won a FabricLink Innovation Award in 2014. PurThread continues to use it, in the form of silver salts, to imbue textiles with antimicrobial and odor-fighting abilities, making product lines like medical scrubs, lab coats and athleticwear.
