Sarah Bill

Redress hosted its 2014 Eco-Fashion and Textiles Conference (REFTC) May 30 and 31, gathering fashion designers, textile manufacturers and business owners for a fashion show and educational workshops all about the next generation of the textile business. New technologies in the industry were discussed during the conference. Appalatch, an apparel manufacturing startup in Asheville specializing in sustainably-sourced wool, is beginning to use 3D knitting for its custom-fit sweaters (Its co-founder Grace is pictured right). The technology is similar to a 3D printer, which uses digital inputs to construct a solid object. The technology saves time, ensures precision and reduces...

When Morris Gelblum started Sweeps in 2004 as a Brogden High School junior, he just wanted to make some extra cash. Ten years later, his business is thriving—without outside funding or mass marketing tactics. Sweeps is an odd jobs service that employs college students, and the first startup to graduate from the Raleigh-based StartupREAL accelerator program. More than 500 students have used Sweeps to find and then complete upwards of 2,800 jobs. The company won a 2013 Chapel Hill Business of the Year Award along with multiple service awards. And now Gelblum is ready to grow Sweeps nationally, starting...

With all of these new offerings, people are beginning to expect more from their transport options. Mickey says there has been a shift in the way people approach travel. “Now, it’s more about convenience. People want to save time and money. They want a real-time face to transit,” he says. And they are getting it. These new Triangle transportation ventures are using technology to deliver flexibility, control and affordability to travelers in a way that has not been done before. “We are thinking about how to change the core of transit,” says Mickey. “We move people from an origin...

Artwear Designs takes artwork from emerging artists and gives them exposure by screen printing the art on affordable, American-made clothing. Lisa Marie Myers, the artistic director and brand manager for Artwear Designs, explains that as an artist herself, she struggled to find ways to sell or display her art. Artwear was created as a feel-good product to benefit both young art consumers (who see supporting the arts as “exclusive and expensive,” according to Myers) and artists, who receive 20% of the total profits. The clothing include crop tops, t-shirts and tank tops with artwork from artists across the United...

All four team members are NC State seniors majoring in materials science. They developed a clear nail polish, which turns a color in the presence of date-rape drugs. The woman wearing the polish only needs to stir a painted finger in her drink to detect if it has been spiked. Team member Tyler Confrey says it is a “discrete” option compared to the test strips and drink coasters currently on the market. With their prize money (totaling $12,250), the team plans to continue improving the reaction time of the polish, and then sell Undercover Colors online and on university...

Taxi drivers in the N.C. State area may be a little confused over a recent decrease in drunk student calls. There is a new competitor on the scene. N.C. State students Arjun Aravindan (pictured right) and Tomer Shvueli (left) launched the sober driving startup Campus Cruizer in February. It is an online platform with a mobile app that allows pre-registered designated student drivers to connect with students needing a safe ride home. “We have the Cruizers who drive for us, and the Boozers who request rides,” says Shvueli. “We have a universal phone number the Boozers call, and that...

The second-annual PARADOXOS festival brings together disparate start-ups that would not connect under normal circumstances, and last night’s Build-A-Party was no exception. Its theme was “What are you building?” and answers came through show-and-tell by real estate developers, artists, musicians, hoteliers and entrepreneurs. The event is being held at locations throughout downtown Durham, and is built on the exchange of community-inspired ideas. Tatiana Birgisson, founder of Mati Energy and a speaker at Paradoxos, has a lot to say about the power of grassroots influence. “The community is so supportive,” she says of her rise from dorm-room tea brewer to...

College students from around the country sit in Duke University’s Gross Hall auditorium with backpacks and duffel bags scattered around them. They are ready to spend the whole day and night coding new software at the second annual HackDuke. While most hackathons involve programmers competing to create new technology in a short amount of time, this event has a twist on the traditional approach. At HackDuke, the students form teams to create real solutions for local nonprofits, not just technology for a business purpose or personal gain. In fact, none of them will win any prize money. Instead, the...