Comprised of up to 99.8 percent air, aerogel is the lightest solid in the world. But that’s not all. The material, which is also called “frozen smoke” due to its appearance and physical properties, exhibits extremely low heat conductivity which exceeds other insulations many times over. This is why NASA has already been using aerogel for aerospace projects for many years. Despite this, it hasn’t been possible to bind the material to textiles in a high concentration and enable straightforward further processing over the roughly 90-year history of the material...until now. Outlast Technologies GmbH has developed an innovative process for permanently adhering large amounts of aerogel to different media, like nonwoven fabric, felt and composites materials. Their original properties are retained throughout, so they can easily be further processed using conventional production methods. What’s special here, is that the fabrics sold under the Aersulate name are only 1 to 3 mm thick and achieve very high insulation values which are largely retained even under pressure and in moist conditions. Despite their high performance, they are still soft and can be used for shoes, clothing and work safety products, and technical applications. A flame retardant version is available too. A patent for the process developed by Outlast has already been filed.