AFFOA Names Nuream and Z-Polymers the New Awardees of the Product Accelerator for Advanced Fabrics 2.0

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Advanced Functional Fabrics of America, Inc. (AFFOA) proudly announces Nuream and Z-Polymers as the next awardees to participate in the Product Accelerator for Functional Fabrics (PAFF) 2.0 program. This strategic initiative aims to accelerate the commercialization of advanced functional fabric products through targeted technical and manufacturing support.

Launched in 2024, the PAFF program enables selected companies to leverage AFFOA’s technical engineering team with expertise in advanced textiles across design, prototyping, integration, testing and process engineering, at no direct cost, to fill critical gaps in their functional fabric development processes, and ultimately reduce time to market.

“Most companies, from startups to mature organizations, face technical or resource-related gaps that can significantly delay the product development process,” said Dr. Sasha Stolyarov, CEO of AFFOA. “Through the PAFF program, AFFOA can fill those gaps with targeted support to overcome those challenges, allowing innovators to bring transformative textile technologies to market faster while strengthening the domestic supply chain.”

Nuream, a health technology startup, is developing fabric-integrated sleep monitoring systems that utilize “fabric-as-a-sensor” technologies to noninvasively track brain activity and other physiological signals during sleep by embedding advanced sensor systems into everyday textiles such as pillowcases and bedding products. AFFOA’s team of experts will assist in developing e-textile-based sensors and sleep monitoring product prototypes, advancing the design for manufacturability and accelerating pilot-scale production, emphasizing domestic e-textile manufacturing.

“We’re honored to be selected for PAFF 2.0 and partnering with AFFOA marks a pivotal step for Nuream,” said Rob Cooley, CEO and Co-Founder. “This collaboration accelerates our path to scalable U.S. manufacturing and positions us to lead the smart textile market with breakthrough sleep health technology that delivers comfort, performance, and personalized health monitoring and enhancement.”

Z-Polymers, a materials science company that participated in the first PAFF program, is continuing its work with AFFOA on developing Tullomer™, a unique polymer compound made into stronger-than-steel fibers. AFFOA will assist Z-Polymers in accelerating its time to market by creating a strategic plan for domestic supply chain partnerships, including planning for manufacturing scale-up and locating domestic manufacturers for collaboration.

“AFFOA has been instrumental in supporting our vision to create high-performance, Tullomer™ fabrics for clean energy and filtration applications,” said Dr. Mike Zimmerman, CEO and Founder of Z-Polymers. “With PAFF 2.0, we are excited to take the next step toward domestic scale-up and forge meaningful partnerships across the U.S. textile supply chain.”

For more information on AFFOA’s PAFF program and awardees, visit: https://affoa.org/opportunities

About AFFOA

AFFOA is a non-profit, public private partnership and one of the Manufacturing USA Innovation Institutes headquartered in Cambridge, MA. AFFOA’s mission is to “Rekindle the domestic textiles industry by leading a nationwide enterprise for advanced fiber & fabric technology development and manufacturing, enabling revolutionary system capabilities for national security and commercial markets”. Learn more at affoa.org.

About Nuream

Founded in Wilmington, NC, Nuream is a health technology startup developing sensor-embedded textile products for non-invasive brain activity monitoring. By merging neuroscience, data analytics, and smart fabric innovation, Nuream aims to transform how individuals monitor and improve sleep and cognitive health.

About Z-Polymers

Z-Polymers is a materials science company that developed Tullomer™, a proprietary liquid crystal polymer (LCP) platform offering exceptional strength, thermal stability, outgassing, flammability and chemical resistance, which is PFAS-free and with exceptionally low-carbon footprint. Tullomer™ is available in multiple formats—pellets, 3D printing filaments, monofilament, and multifilament yarns and is designed for high-performance applications in energy storage, additive manufacturing, aerospace, filtration, and beyond.

Contact:
Joshua Rapoza
Director of Marketing and Communications
508.558.6682
jrapoza@affoa.org

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SOURCE AFFOA