Piana Technology, an Italian textile company known for innovation within the fibre and nonwoven textiles markets, has been named a CES 2022 innovation awards honouree. The award honours design and engineering of E/SMART, a high-performance nonwoven fibre technology that surpasses the qualities of polyurethane foam while reducing its negative impacts.

Piana is debuting the technology at the ongoing 2022 CES, its first year in attendance, through their virtual activation experience. E/SMART offers uncommon integration of digital wellness and product sustainability. Its recyclable and nontoxic fibres are vertically-lapped to provide even pressure point distribution, unprecedented airflow, and antiviral capabilities that outperform those of conventional materials. Even at its reduced weight, it boasts superior compressional and thermal resistance for extensive applications. Flexible integrated pressure sensors within E/SMART can enable healthy posture and sleep quality through personalization of the products. We are developing this technology to act as a diagnostic tool in hospital settings. Combined with digitally-printed molecules, it can adapt to wide consumer requests for a user-friendly experience. At its end of life, it can be 100 percent reclaimed and moulded for endless customer possibilities, Piana said in a press release.

Replacing the 1.3 million metric tons of annually landfilled PU foam with E/SMART would eliminate over four million metric tons of CO2 each year, leading to reduced impact on quality of life, health, productivity and slowed environmental decline. CEO Andrea Piana sees E/SMART as an opportunity to change the way we approach sustainability.

“The modern world is reliant on materials of the past. If we want to maximize our human potential, we must develop new technologies that adapt alongside us. With E/SMART, we've built a tech platform for the circular economy with renewable materials that can be upgraded as technology improves—without waste—for endless applications. Along the way, we can make foam obsolete,” Piana said.