Genevieve Dion

Professor and Director of Center for Functional Fabrics and Pennsylvania Fabric Discovery Center

Dion is an award-winning fashion designer with an extensive background in bespoke design and industrial design. Her collections have been sold at Bergdorf Goodman and Barneys in New York City and Holt Renfrew in Canada. Her work on permanently pleated silk is in the permanent collections of the Victoria and Albert museum in London and the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco. Dion presented at TEDxPhiladelphia and was named one of Fast Company's "100 Most Creative People in Business 2014."

She is the director of the Center for Functional Fabrics and Pennsylvania Fabric Discovery Center and was founder of the Shima Seiki Haute Technology Lab in Drexel's Expressive and Creative Interaction Technologies (ExCITe) Center. Dion is at the center of collaborative research with partners from across the University. Her current work includes multidisciplinary research on knitted electronic components, smart fabrics, versatile mass production and wearable technology.

In The News

Fabric With Mxene Can Block Electromagnetic Waves
Research by Yury Gogotsi, PhD, Distinguished University and Bach professor in the College of Engineering, and Genevieve Dion, a professor in Westphal College and director of the Center for Functional Fabrics, about MXene-coated fabric that can block electromagnetic interference, was featured in a Jan. 25 Advanced Textiles Source post.
MXene Coating Could Protect Wearables From EMI
Research showing that MXene-coated fabrics can block electromagnetic interference, led by Yury Gogotsi, PhD, Distinguished University and Bach professor in the College of Engineering, and Genevieve Dion, a professor in Westphal College of Media Arts & Design and director of the Center for Functional Fabrics, was featured in a Dec. 14 post on The Engineer (UK).
‘Outlaw’ Pa. Businesses Make Coronavirus Masks Without State Approval
Genevieve Dion, a professor in Westphal Colllege of Media Arts & Design and director of Drexel’s Center for Functional Fabrics, was mentioned in an April 8 WHYY.org story about textile manufacturers throughout the state transitioning their operations to make face masks and personal protective equipment during the coronavirus pandemic.
Drexel University Working to Fill Critical Need for COVID-19 Masks and Respirators
Genevieve Dion, a professor in Westphal College of Media Arts & Design and director of Drexel’s Center for Functional Fabrics, and Charles Cairns, MD, dean of the College of Medicine, were quoted in a March 25 Philadelphia Inquirer story about how local manufacturers are pitching in to produce masks for health care workers.

Related Articles

Following the Thread: Drexel’s TopoKnit System Lays the Groundwork for Universal Design of Functional Fabrics
A team of researchers at Drexel University is translating the loops and twists that makeup a knitted textile into a digital architecture of knitting — a key step in the process of incorporating new technologies into textiles
MXene yarn nanoscale That New Yarn?! — Wearable, Washable Textile Devices Are Possible With MXene-Coated Yarns
Drexel University researchers have figured out how to add more conductivity into functional fabric devices, by coating yarns with a two-dimensional carbon-based material called MXene, to make conductive threads. The group has developed a dip-coating method, similar to the dyeing process, that can produce a conductive yarn strong enough for use in industrial knitting machines and durable enough to make it through wash cycles without degrading.
capacitive touch sensor Drexel to Host Pennsylvania's Center For Advanced Fabric Manufacturing Innovation
The Department of Defense’s effort to bring America to the forefront of textile technology manufacturing and innovation is gaining a strategic foothold in the region. Drexel University, in collaboration with DoD-supported Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (AFFOA), is establishing a statewide center that will help companies, entrepreneurs and innovators take their advanced-textile concepts from prototype to product and prepare America’s workforce for the quality jobs this growing sector is generating. Called the “Pennsylvania Fabric Discovery Center,” this statewide resource is the first hub located outside of AFFOA’s home state of Massachusetts. It will be part of a national network intended to lower the barrier to commercialization for functional fabrics, resulting in advanced textiles that do things like see, hear, sense, communicate, generate and store energy.
textile Holding Energy By The Threads: Drexel Researchers Spin Cotton Into Capacitive Yarn
A Drexel doctorate student is leading the charge on researching conductive yarns that have the flexibility of a cotton T-shirt but the energy storage that would make the Energizer Bunny proud.