The Grabher Group wins two awards for textile innovation

The Grabher Group, a partner of the Smart Embroideries Platform Austria, has won two awards.

Technical textiles pioneer The Grabher Group has announced a double success. The group been awarded the Red Dot Award 2018, while managing director Günter Grabher, who is also CEO of the Smart Textiles Platform Austria, has been named Entrepreneur of the Year 2018 at the 10^th SME Awards in its home region of Vorarlberg, Austria.

The group been awarded the Red Dot Award 2018

Grabher, who started his first company in 1995, is now the owner of eight specialised companies, each focusing on a specific processing stage along the textile value chain. His companies supply products for a wide range of applications, from the automotive sector, to medical, to aviation.

"I have always been looking at topics in an interdisciplinary way, maintained and cherished international networks and local partnerships,” says Grabher. “The big advantage of the Vorarlberg region is the high level of vertical integration in a geographically limited region. We can rely on constant support from the entire textile value chain in our region and thus we are well prepared for future challenges."

The entrepreneurial awards for the best small and medium-sized companies have been granted for the past 10 years by the Vorarlberg region and the Austrian Chamber of Commerce and are presented at the Dornbirn exhibition centre.

Nine years ago, Grabher took over the Smart Textiles Platform. As initiator and head of this forum, he has been recently appointed as a member of the technology advisory council by the Federal Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technology (bmvit). Additionally, he has been asked to join the Supervisory Board of the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG). As an active member in these important national steering committees, Grabher focuses on topics like innovation and future orientation.

Smart Shirt QUS

The Red Dot Award 2018, presented at a ceremony in Singapore, was awarded to The Grabher Group and start-up company sanSirro for their joint development of the Smart Shirt QUS, described as the “first truly washable intelligent sports shirt.”

The shirt allows biometric data to be read directly from the body via special sensors integrated into the embroidery, an application developed by the research facility Vtrion – a Grabher Group entity.

 All relevant body data can be recorded and stored in the cloud without using a chest strap, thus optimising training cycles. Vital parameters such as cardiac and respiratory rates, position and movement data, as well as calorie consumption, are recorded by sewn-in stainless-steel electrodes and forwarded to an on-board-unit (OBU), which is integrated in the neck area of the shirt. The data is transmitted to a cloud service via a Bluetooth interface.

Fabrics and sensors are sustainably protected by a nanoplasma coating, thus ensuring washability without impairing the functional properties. The data can be analysed on smartphones or other devices during or after training, to optimise the training cycles. This system is also applicable for targeted sleep monitoring.

"We guarantee 100 washing cycles, which is so far unique. Current success of the product is showing us that we are on the right track with our new lifestyle brand and that our product world appropriately meets contemporary needs and requirements of modern consumers,” adds Hannes Steiner, CEO, sanSirro, who financed part of the development costs through a crowdfunding programme.