It is critical for fashion technology brands to protect their wearable innovations. Having created revolutionary textiles technology with applications spanning earth to space, Swedish fashion tech brand Transforming Textiles AB knows the important role IP plays in bringing an innovative fashion product to market.
Fashion tech company Transforming Textiles, founded by female entrepreneur Sara Rosberg, is delivering groundbreaking technology. Since launching its revolutionary yarn-thread technology Sense-Tex™ at the end of 2023, Transforming Textiles has quickly gone viral.
IP has been integral to Transforming Textiles bringing its technology to market, including patents, trade marks and commercial agreements.
Sense-Tex™ incorporates patent-pending technology. It is made up of five fibres (ramie, soybean, SeaCell (algae), silver and Smartcel (zinc)) and has wide applications spanning a range of industries. Its applications include life critical healthcare, with abilities to provide health metrics through an accompanying app when worn. Sense-Tex™ also has applications in the space and aviation industry and has featured in the top 10 space-tech finalists in European Space Agency’s (ESA) Nordic Launch. Everyday fashion and textiles are also a key market. Transforming Textiles has its own ready-to-wear range, Modality, which incorporates Sense-Tex™ into everyday luxury loungewear made of Sense-Tex™ and other sustainable materials. It is now working on developing different versions of Sense-Tex™, as well as incorporating it into other fabrics, such as chiffon. Patents are key for Transforming Textiles being able to commercially exploit its technology and stopping others from copying it.
Commercial agreements have also been crucial in allowing Transforming Textiles to bring its technology to market. Inventors Sara and her tech consultant Marcelo Boldt worked with third party collaborators to bring Sense-Tex™ to life, where manufacturing and collaboration agreements were key. For early-stage discussions with third parties, non-disclosure agreements have also been important to protect Transforming Textiles’ confidential information, including inventions and know-how.
Transforming Textiles has also used registered trade marks to protect its brand, enabling its customers to identify and associate with it.
What about the person driving Transforming Textiles? Recognised by Forbes as a pioneer for the future of smart textiles, Sara’s inherent fashion roots trace back to her native Sri Lanka, where her biological mother was a saree designer. Sara was adopted as a baby by a family in Sweden and began her fashion career after a significant life experience. At the age of sixteen, Sara became paralysed on the left side of her body and was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS), a life-changing condition affecting the brain and spinal cord. Despite this, and various other significant challenges along the way, Sara has successfully navigated her way through the fashion industry.
Sara notes that she was driven by sustainability in building Transforming Textiles. With sustainability at its heart, Transforming Textiles’ solution enables mechanical fibre-to-fibre recycling on a mass scale. Sense-Tex™ can also be completely recycled by being mechanically un-spun and separated.
Sara comments that it is key to partner with professionals to help with IP from the outset, and to build solid IP foundations for the business to stand on. It is also important to be part of a community of brilliant minds and innovation.
