Advanced Functional Fabrics of America Inc. (AFFOA) announced today that The Lycra Company, Gentex Corporation, Ecotune and MacroCycle Technologies have been selected as awardees in the third round of its Product Accelerator for Functional Fabrics (PAFF 3.0) program. The goal of the PAFF 3.0 program is to address critical technical and manufacturing challenges by providing no-cost access to AFFOA’s engineering experts, prototyping and testing facilities, manufacturing scale-up capabilities and domestic supply chain network to improve manufacturability and accelerate time to market.
“The caliber of proposals we received for this round of PAFF was remarkable, and selecting just four awardees was no easy task,” says Sasha Stolyarov, Ph.D., CEO, AFFOA. “What stood out about The Lycra Company, Gentex Corporation, Ecotune, and MacroCycle was their shared commitment to solving real manufacturing challenges — faster development cycles, improving production efficiency and quality, and scaling more sustainable, high-performance materials. Bridging that gap between innovation and real-world manufacturing is at the heart of what AFFOA does, and we are excited to bring our technical expertise to bear on each of these projects.”
The Lycra Company, a global leader in fiber innovation, will partner with AFFOA to integrate virtual garment prototyping into its product development process. In the realms of activewear, athleisure and performance apparel, physical fit trials traditionally drive validation and are often accompanied by two to three months of lead time. Through PAFF 3.0, The Lycra Company will work with AFFOA’s digital engineering team to evaluate and validate three-dimensional garment simulation software for close-to-body applications such as leggings and sports bras. This initiative will supplement live wear trials and accelerate product development and reduce time to market by enabling more rapid, accurate virtual fit and performance assessments.
Gentex Corporation, a longtime leader in protective helmet manufacturing for the U.S. Department of Defense, will receive AFFOA’s assistance in maturing an automation solution for sewing operations. Currently, Gentex produces thousands of helmets per month across its US facilities. Each helmet requires products sewn individually by an operator — a process that is both repetitive and time-consuming. Through PAFF 3.0, AFFOA will help advance prototype solutions through larger-scale implementations for application across all Gentex sewing cells, driving efficiency, consistency, and worker safety.
Ecotune, a material innovation startup, will leverage AFFOA’s expertise to accelerate the commercialization of its fully bio-based, plastic-free textile coatings designed to replace high-carbon footprint materials like polyurethane and PVC. Backed by five years of NSF- and EPA-supported research, Ecotune has created a USDA-certified, 100% bio-based coating technology that meets or exceeds key performance metrics — including tensile strength, flex resistance, and abrasion resistance — while achieving projected price parity with conventional coatings. Through PAFF 3.0, Ecotune will draw on AFFOA’s knowledge in manufacturing scale-up, process development and the textile supply chain to assess the technology’s drop-in compatibility with existing textile manufacturing infrastructure and conduct roll-to-roll pilot scale trials. The project is expected to validate a scalable pathway to commercialization and enable broader adoption of an innovative bio-based coating technology.
MacroCycle Technologies, a tech startup developing a textile-to-textile recycling platform, will collaborate with AFFOA to accelerate the commercial readiness of its SolvoGenesis
platform, which converts post-consumer polyester waste into virgin-quality recycled polyester resin using over 80% less energy than conventional PET production. With global polyester fiber production exceeding 70 million tons annually and less than one percent currently recycled, MacroCycle’s breakthrough chemistry purifies and upgrades polyester without degrading performance. Through PAFF 3.0, AFFOA will apply its expertise in textile manufacturing, testing and evaluation, and domestic supply chain development to produce commercial-grade fabric swatches from recycled PET, validate textile-level performance, and connect MacroCycle with domestic supply chain partners, ultimately accelerating market adoption of textile-to-textile recycling technologies and strengthening domestic manufacturing capabilities.
PAFF 3.0 advances AFFOA’s mission of accelerating technology maturation and strengthening domestic supply chain resilience by helping companies overcome barriers to commercialization through access to world-class technical expertise and manufacturing resources. Collectively, these awardees reflect the breadth and ambition of what is possible when industry expertise meets AFFOA’s hands-on support — and the critical role advanced textiles will play in the future of U.S manufacturing.
For more information about PAFF 3.0, click here.
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