Shima Seiki was founded in 1962, developing the world's first fully automated glove knitting machine and continues to develop technologies utilized across the whole textile and apparel industry. Shima Seiki's coolest innovation to date has been their WHOLEGARMENT Technology which is able to automate seamless knitwear, outmoding grandmothers everywhere.

BenQ is a veteran provider of consumer electronics, communications devices and components of every taxonomy. Needless to say, the idea of a company like BenQ stepping into the world of consumer textiles is quite exciting. Leveraging an R&D budget likely greater than Gore's revenue while utilizing the technology and experience from the mass production of electronics, they have come up with an ultra-thin membrane with 10 billion nanopores in every square inch, outperforming all other competitors on the market. Even your beloved Gore-tex Pro.

The future of ultralight insulation as we see it. No more are the days of baffled down garments that make you look like the "Michelin man". Thindown has provided an innovative solution that is able to provide the insulative properties of down feathers as a compressed sheet. Through biomimicry, Thindown has achieved the feat of creating an insulation with the best heat retention that we have seen to date. The potential to eliminate the incredibly difficult task of filling down baffles on the manufacturer level brings a high level of excitement for us.

Byborre everywhere. Our colleagues left their mark all over ISPO with their wild knit technology. Based in Amsterdam, this textile innovation studio works on the frontiers of material development, functionality and aesthetics through engineered knits. Taking apart machines and seeing what makes them tick, Borre and crew work in a mindset of meticulous innovation ushering a new era of 3D knit and seamless garments.

With a vision to combat the incoming dystopia of pollution and infection alike, Airinum came in as one of the top 50 newcomers of ISPO. By taking a technical approach to the problem of climate change as well as the desire for cooler looking products, Airinum has done a fantastic job at creating a facemask that protects in style, offering a five-layer filter to prevent particles down to 0.3μm from getting through. With collaborations with NEMEN and Allen Walker, these are go-to for the tech ninja and the introverted commuter alike.

Techwear's hardware hard-on. Fidlock is the biggest producer of magnetic hardware and probably the one we get asked about the most. Often with the coolest inventions, it was born out of necessity. Joachim Fiedler was touring around the globe as a professional musician with an impractical carry system for his cello. From that, he developed and patented the magnet fasteners we see everywhere today. Besides their ability to turn a 3$ piece of hardware into a 100$ belt (see Norse Projects, BBS11, Bagjack). Fidlock has made some amazing leaps this year in creating new hardware for apparel and footwear which we hope to showcase soon.