The Smart Textiles and Emerging Technologies (STET) – 2026 International Conference provides a global platform for academic researchers, industry professionals, innovators, and research students to exchange knowledge and present advances in smart textile materials, systems, and related technologies.

Building on the success of STET – 2023 and STET – 2024, this fully online conference is organised by a New Zealand–based organisation and designed to support international collaboration, knowledge exchange, and innovation. STET – 2026 highlights the practical relevance of research findings, showcasing how advances in materials, design, and technology can inform real-world applications and inspire further innovation.

Smart Textiles and Emerging Technologies

Smart textiles represent a rapidly advancing field in which textile materials are engineered to sense, respond, adapt, and interact with their environment and users. Once considered conceptual, these technologies are now technically achievable and increasingly moving towards real-world deployment and commercial adoption.

The development of smart textile systems relies on the integration of multiple disciplines, including textile science and engineering, materials science, electronics, artificial intelligence, data science, biotechnology, and human-centred design. Emerging tools such as AI-driven textile design, machine learning for quality prediction, digital manufacturing, advanced sensors, and data-enabled textile platforms are transforming how textiles are designed, produced, tested, and applied.

Smart textiles are no longer limited to clothing and apparel. Their applications extend across healthcare and rehabilitation, sports and performance, defence and protective systems, automotive and aerospace, robotics, packaging, and intelligent environments. STET – 2026 encourages both technological advancement and critical discussion around responsible innovation, sustainability, circularity, and societal impact.

Call for papers and presentations

Original research papers and industrial presentations are invited in the following areas (including, but not limited to):

• Advanced and functional textile fibres
• Two-dimensional and three-dimensional textile structures
• Innovations in knitting, weaving, nonwoven, and braiding technologies
• Protective and high-performance textiles
• Smart textiles for medical, healthcare, and rehabilitation applications
• Sports and performance textiles
• Artificial intelligence and machine learning in textile design, manufacturing, and testing
• Data-driven textiles and intelligent textile systems
• Electronic textiles and conductive fibres/fabrics
• Textile-based sensors and wearable monitoring technologies
• Shape-memory and stress-memory materials
• Digital manufacturing, three-dimensional printing, and additive manufacturing
• Modelling, simulation, and virtual prototyping of textile systems
• Human–textile interaction and comfort science
• Circular, sustainable, and bio-based textile materials
• Testing, characterisation, and standards for smart textiles
• Geotextiles, automotive textiles, and industrial textile applications
• Commercialisation, technology transfer, and market readiness
• Other topics related to smart textiles and emerging technologies

Conference language: English only.

Abstracts should be 250–300 words, self-contained, and written in Times New Roman, 12 pt font with 1.5 line spacing. They must not include abbreviations, footnotes, or incomplete references. Send your abstract to “texmatresearch@gmail.com”

Publications: Selected manuscripts, based on quality and relevance, will be published in the STET – 2026 conference proceedings with ISSN / ISBN allocation, with DOI registration subject to editorial and publishing arrangements.

*E-Certificate will be issued to all the participants.