The University of Michigan has developed garment labels woven directly into the fabric.

This is a barcode. The photonic properties of the fibers can be cusomised to make them visible to the naked eye, readable only under near-infrared light or any combination.

Ordinary tags often don’t make it to the end of a garment’s life—they may be cut away or washed until illegible and tagless information can wear off.

Recycling could be more effective if a tag was woven into the fabric, invisible until it needs to be read. This is what the new fiber does.The team developed the technology to incorporate the photonic properties into a process that would be compatible with large-scale production.They accomplished the task by starting with a preform—a plastic feedstock that comprises dozens of alternating layers. In this case, they used acrylic and polycarbonate. While each individual layer is clear, the combination of two materials bends and refracts light to create optical effects that can look like color.The preform was heated and then mechanically pulled into a hair-thin strand of fiber.

While the manufacturing process method differs from the extrusion technique used to make conventional synthetic fibers like polyester, it can produce the same miles-long strands of fiber. Those strands can then be processed with the same equipment already used by textile makers.

Less than 15 per cent of the 92 million tons of clothing and other textiles discarded annually are recycled—in part because they are so difficult to sort. These woven-in labels could change that.