TDA RESEARCH, INC. — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: N231-002

Description

Cold weather baseylayers are crucial to protecting warfighters from cold injury. Current military baselayers are produced using cut and sew methods that create a long supply chain that require multiple production steps and a significant amount of human labor. This makes ensuring Berry compliance challenging. It is critical for supply chain security for the US to develop a larger textile industry that uses modern textile production methods. With advances in computing and robotics, whole garment knitting equipment is now readily available that produces customizable garments on demand that are more comfortable, more durable, require less labor, and produce less textile waste. However, despite growing use in Asia, there are few US based whole garment knitting businesses. It is therefore critical to develop a larger US-based whole garment knitting industry to improve supply chain security and produce higher quality garments with less textile waste. In this effort, TDA will leverage our team’s expertise in garment design, prototype development, and computer aided simulation to transition from cut and sew baselayers to improved garments made from whole garment knitting.