Advanced Textiles Expo 2026

Charles Freeman
Department Chair for Fashion and Design and Director of Research and Creative Scholarship
Texas Christian University


Charles Freeman, Ph.D., is a textile scientist, entrepreneur, and academic leader working at the intersection of advanced textiles, engineering, design, and workforce innovation. He serves as Professor and Chair of Fashion Merchandising and Director of Research and Creative Activities in the College of Fine Arts at Texas Christian University. Freeman’s work treats textiles not simply as materials, but as engineered systems with applications across aerospace, defense, wearable technology, protective equipment, advanced manufacturing, and human performance. His interdisciplinary research has explored smart textiles, wearable sensing systems, photovoltaic fabrics, protective equipment, bio-based materials, and textile performance. He is the lead developer of TACTIC, the Texas Advanced Certificate in Textiles for Innovation & Composites, created with Advanced Functional Fabrics of America to build a new interdisciplinary workforce pipeline for advanced softgoods, aerospace, defense, and space systems.

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