The Fabric of Our Lives: A Closer Look at Standards for E-Textiles

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IPC E-Textiles Committee A-Teams are bringing much-needed standards to this innovative technology space

The e-textiles industry recognizes IPC as a leader in standards development for the greater electronics industry, and in 2017 asked IPC for assistance to develop global standards for materials, design, and manufacture of e-textiles. Volunteers quickly adapted to IPC’s processes by integrating themselves into the fabric (pun intended) of IPC’s global standardization efforts.

There are now eight task groups under the IPC E-Textiles Committee that are developing standards and many new IPC Test Methods for conductive yarns; woven, knitted, braided, and embroidered e-textiles; printed electronics e-textiles; and even wearable e-textiles systems. The IPC E-Textiles Committee was among the first to embrace IPC’s A-Teams approach, where dedicated groups of volunteers from an originating task group take on the lion’s share of the work for their task group.

The first A-Team came together in 2018 and, from a list of topics identified by their subcommittee—IPC-8921—Requirements for Woven and Knitted Electronic Textiles (E-Textiles) Integrated with Conductive Fibers, Conductive Yarns and/or Wires became IPC’s first published e-textiles standard. 

That A-Team’s efforts established IPC as a true leader for standards development in the e-textiles industry. As the results of their work became more well known, it attracted more volunteers to form new E-Textiles Committee task groups. These volunteers found IPC to be a fast path: A proposed standard topic could lead to a task group approval, an A-Team formation, and then to starting their projects. 

The IPC E-Textiles Committee now represents IPC’s global footprint with eight A-Teams, all actively engaged in different standards projects. A-Team members hail from Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Malaysia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Each team has embraced IPC’s challenge to come up with creative names for their teams. Let’s meet the IPC E-Textiles Committee A-Teams and see what they’re up to.

To read this entire article, which appeared in the summer 2023 issue of IPC Community magazine.