News
April 04, 2021
EEnotech, a clean tech foundry accelerating and validating research from Stanford University, announces LifeLabs™, the commercialization of textile patents from Stanford’s advanced materials laboratory. Founded by Professor Yi Cui, director of Stanford University’s Precourt Institute for Energy and a 15-year veteran of Stanford's Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Meng Sui, CEO of EEnotech and 4C Air, Inc. and a chemist and patent agent, LifeLabs™ bridges the gap between academia and scientific research and commercially-viable textiles that create a more sustainable world.
“The future of textiles is not based on lower cost-engineering but rather higher sustainability objectives and performance-benefit delivery. LifeLabs™ believes in a better world thru science and design,” says Scott Mellin, CEO of Life Labs Design, Inc. Mellin was the innovation leader at The North Face for FutureLight and The Advanced Mountain Kit (which spawned 5 unique product innovations). His global experience in the field of product innovation can be found here.
LifeLabs™ and the Life System™ of textiles introduces a unique suite of intellectual property and patents addressing peoples’ environments, from mobility to home to work to sport. LifeLabs’ patented textiles maximize comfort and performance while reducing energy on a personal and global scale.
The textile industry is considered among the world’s worst polluting industries and the second largest consumer of water. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the fashion industry uses some 93 billion cubic meters of water—enough to meet the needs of five million people—each year. Plus, close to 20 percent of industrial water pollution is owed to fabric dyes and treatments. “Fast fashion” has contributed to global clothing production doubling between 2000 and 2014, and nearly three-fifths of all clothing ends up in incinerators or landfills within a year of being produced. Garment production makes up some 10 percent of humanity's carbon emissions (more carbon emissions than all international flights and maritime shipping combined), and that’s expected to rise by almost 50 percent by 2030.
With EEnotech’s history of developing innovative solutions to society’s most pressing issues—clean energy storage, water purification, thermoregulation—and Professor Cui’s background in energy and environmental technologies, LifeLabs™ promises a new sustainability unprecedented within the industry.
“From batteries for electric cars to storing wind and solar energy to stabilize the grid, to water and soil filtration, supporting sustainably has been my focus for the last 15 years,” says Professor Cui. For example, Professor Cui developed a low-cost, single-catalyst water splitter to provide a renewable source of clean-burning hydrogen fuel and a new battery electrolyte to boost the performance of electric vehicles.
Backed by Stanford research and science, there’s no greenwashing involved in LifeLabs™ new sustainability effort. The process streamlines the supply chain, uses less energy, fewer materials and pollutes zero toxic chemicals.