Fashion Technology Center has played a vital role in developing Carbon Nanotube Hybrid Textiles for use in personal protective equipment (PPE) and other commercial applications. The CNT team, led by Assistant Professor Ashley Kubley, has been working on developing smart material composites with superior properties like extreme heat resistance, superior contaminant filtration, moisture wicking, conductivity, hydrophobicity and many other customizable properties. These materials are designed to be included in firefighter turnout gear and baselayer garments, face protection for healthcare workers and first responders, and can also be custom-designed for commercial applications for garments and textile products that can outperform the materials on the market today. The team has patented the technology and is currently in prototype development. The project has utilized machinery and software in each of the Fashion Technology Center labs for this research. The project was part of the 1819 Innovation Hub's Venture Lab Pre-Accelerator program and has received multiple grants and publications.

The University of Cincinnati Design Innovation team is addressing the worldwide challenging epidemic, by hacking the production system and using our FTC and DAAP technology enabled facilities.

The Covid-19 Quick Response Team led by Myron E. Ullman Jr. College of Design faculty (Claudia Rebola, Ashley Kubley, Steve Doehler and Nick Germann of the DAAP Rapid Prototyping Center) created social impact by collaborating with innovators from 1819 Innovation Hub, engineers from CEAS, healthcare professionals from UC Health, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, and TriHealth and a network of over 100 students, faculty and staff volunteers to quickly retool our Fashion Technology Center and DAAP studio spaces into a PPE manufacturing hub. In March of 2020, in-person contact was not permitted, so the team was able to strategically and safely activate a distributed production system. This effort would not have been possible without the passionate individual volunteers who pitched in to help cut, assemble, finish and deliver the items to those in need. The effort of our collective team produced over 4000 masks and respirators for local hospitals, first responders, educators and patients in the local area.

In the face of early material shortages the team responded quickly to consider using sterile materials donated from the hospitals, up-cycled fabric waste from our fashion studios and donations of deadstock fabric materials from our local industry partners including Fechheimer, Scrubs + Beyond and donations of aluminum milled nose clips donated by the local sheetmetal workers union. We utilized laser cutting, ultrasonic welding and specialized industrial sewing equipment in the Fashion Technology Center and the Rapid Prototyping center to produce the masks.