Meanwhile, occupations like hand sewing, fabric mending and textile knitting have also seen sharp declines in recent years.

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Noble has come up with a way to adhere pure silver to a basic textile, which allows the fabric to take on the chemical properties of silver.

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Back then, Ford had to go outside the auto industry to find a textile manufacturer capable of producing recycled fabric.

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In the spring of 1995 she asked to take over the company's six Silk Surplus outlets, which sold fabric remnants and a less expensive textile line, Baranzelli.

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In the spring of 1995 she asked to take over the company's six Silk Surplus retail outlets, which sold fabric remnants and a less expensive textile line, Baranzelli.

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In nearby Greensboro, International Textile Group, a collection of rolled-fabric makers bought out of bankruptcy by financier Wilbur Ross, is coming up with new products for affiliated company Nano-Tex, which develops textile applications on the nano scale.

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Reminiscent of scenes from the 1951 film "The Man in the White Suit, " in which Sir Alec Guinness plays a scientist who invents a fabric that never needs cleaning, the scientists have developed a textile that cleans itself.

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