George Moon was educated at the Rhode Island School of Design and the University of Michigan, majoring in Industrial Design and Architecture. Joining General Motors in 1952, Moon’s first assignment was creating some of the interiors for the new Technical Center buildings designed by the architect, Eero Saarinen. Harley Earl brought Moon into the Styling Staff in 1954. In 1957 Moon was appointed Chief Designer of Buick Interiors. In 1972 Moon was promoted to Executive Designer of Interiors, over Oldsmobile, Buick and Cadillac, and in 1974, added Chevrolet, Pontiac, Truck, Advanced Interiors, and the Color and Materials Studio. Later, Moon headed all Advanced Exterior and Interior Design, before retiring in 1987, after 35 years at GM, which included 2 assignments at Opel Design in Russelsheim, Germany. He then opened his own design business where he became a consultant to Chatham Borgstena in Mt. Airy, NC. Moon has also done design work for Case Tractor, Peterbilt Truck, 3M, Lear, Tietex, Cuinba Leather, and others. Having taught at the Art Center College in Pasadena, CA, Moon continues to write articles for magazines and other journals based on his 51 years of experience in automotive and industrial design.

George Moon, Transportation Design Expert

Industry Background

I first became involved with automotive textiles upon becoming Chief Designer of Buick Interiors, at GM Styling, in early 1957. I am still heavily engaged in the design and selection of automotive textiles, but now with the supplier side, some 45 years later. It has changed a great deal, and is changing now more dramatically.

The first textile I selected for use in a car was a Chatham-made, Flatwoven, made of nylon and rayon. It was for the 1959 Buick LeSabre. The only fabric I could select in those days was a Flatwoven, made of nylon. It cost about $2.50 per linear yard.

Original owner's manual for the 1959 LeSabre

Now, the scope and range of technologies and yarn types available is 10-fold, and prices average around $ 8.00 – 10.00 per linear yard, 59 inches in width. A textile today is a great bargain, despite the price increases, as the value of the dollar related to the textile has drastically changed. The textiles of today are engineered to meet very stringent and demanding test criteria, particularly as to wear, seam strength and stretch requirements.

All textiles in 1959 – and I was selecting these in 1957 – were piece-dyed to achieve color. You could get some tonal effects using resist yarns, but the range was very limited. Today, added to the still-used, piece-dyeing system, are the use of pre-dyed yarns and solution-dyed yarns. The yarn variety used now was not imaginable in 1957. They are feats of chemistry and engineering and are mostly derived from polyester fibers with greater dye and color retention. Making a fabric meet 8% to 12% stretch requirements, yet not allow needle-hole elongation is a real trick.

Designer's Role

Submissions from textile suppliers go to designers in the Color and Trim Material Studios at the Original Equipment Manufacturers – OEMs – usually submitting textiles that are aimed at pre-determined targets of type, price range, pattern, and overall aesthetic need. They go from that point through a long process of reviews by myriads of people from Design, Engineering, Purchasing, Sales, Marketing and various levels of management. A particular textile making it from start to production has what Lance Armstrong has for the Tour d’France: endurance.

Without question the job of designing a textile that meets all the aesthetic and technical requirements, and still meets the stringent price targets, is tough, tough, tough. At a time when there are so many great new technological developments as well as new yarns coming into play, it is a true tug-of-war to balance all that with the price parameters. Every designer wants the right stretch, the hand softness, the stain resistance and perhaps water repellency or temperature negation, but all those characteristics cost money.

As in all business endeavors, the great force that finds solution is competition, and competition in the global automotive textile business is also remarkable. Where all the textile suppliers to US OEMs were once American companies located here in the USA, now companies from Europe and Asia are all welcome guests. German, French, Swedish, Japanese, Chinese, Indian and Korean companies are all knocking on the door, showing their wares to the OEM designers, and in many cases, showing very unique and innovative product and ever more remarkable processes. This is a worldwide game now, and I would have to say the designers are afforded more choices to select from, and that answer their most far-reaching imaginations.

Many types of textiles – Woven Velours, Flatwovens, Circular Pile and Flat Knits, Tricot Knits, Pol Knits and Double Needle Bar Knits' have all been used at various times over the last 30 years, each seeing ups and downs of popularity. Flatwovens are a good case in point. In the 1950s, they were it, so they were the popular fabric to use. As progress was made in other technologies in the 1960s and 1970s, textiles such as Woven Velours – which came into use in 1972 – Flatwovens declined in usage and popularity with designer and customer. They took on the onus of being cheap, low cost and became relegated to the base levels of automotive trim. Now Flatwovens have made a huge comeback due to new yarns, new finishes, color treatments and “…the fact that looks are cyclical.” The designers find them their favorite at this time in all levels of trim!

In some vehicles, Woven Velours have maintained their level of appeal and status as “Up-level”, top-of-the-line, as far as textile interiors are concerned. Despite some surveys and trend indicators that say the Woven Velour is fading out as a wanted textile, some manufacturers are hanging on in the belief that it still represents the most luxury textiles can offer. Chevrolet trucks are an example. They have been a traditional Woven Velour user in their upper trim levels, in contrast to the new Ford 150 trucks, which are using knits. In speaking with Chevrolet dealers, they say they use this in pointing out feature differences to prospective buyers.

Today's Technologies

There is no question that new technologies are making their way into the automotive bodycloth spectrum and the designers are eager to see these become the “looks” for coming vehicles. Yet, they have to battle marketing and sales opinions, as we noted in the Chevrolet truck trim efforts. Even in using the Woven Velour on into the next round of trims it is not to remain with the status quo. Weaving velours with voids, lower and more dense piles, embossing and etching are creating new appearances. New yarns are being employed to create softer hands, and they continue to explore new patterns and color content to create an up-to-date, contemporary appearance.

Other types of pile textiles such as Circular Knit Velours and Pol Knits can also create that luxury look and feel and offer new appearance characteristics. Their inherent stretch a flex qualities are a trimmer’s dream and suit the complex shapes so often used in the contemporary vehicle seating. Pattern flexibility and color content are also appealing effects found in these fabrics, and many will be used in even the truck market.

Of the new technologies, I find that etching and embossing – creating pattern by chemical, imprint and heat processes' to be most interesting, but I also feel that the most important aspect of the contemporary textile is how it feels to the hand. Softness is a great seller!

In all facets of this business, it is the agility, adaptability and problem-solving ability of the textile manufacturers that counts most. As Woven Velours seemed to be declining, they came to the table with new answers to keep the technology alive, and those machines running at the various plants. By driving for new, lower cost yarns, by adding stretch capabilities and by the other ideas mentioned above, they kept the technology viable. Nothing lasts forever in this business, but we can say Woven Velours have gone on longer than anyone predicted. Trends and surveys can offer road maps, but customers are not always in tune with those, nor caring about them…however they are derived. They know what they like and are often reticent to change.

I am still a firm believer that the acceptance of a bodycloth, a fabric, a textile, that an OEM selects, begins with Design. Unless you catch the eye of the selecting designer or design team, you will not make the grade. After that, of course, your ability to make that material at the target prices and certify that they meet all the test requirements, determines your success and your moving on through the system. In all, the huge scope of technologies offered today, the incredible qualities and engineering feats they survive under, and the very low prices they are purchased with, are a tremendous testimony to the resourcefulness and ingenuity of the textile manufacturers and the men and women who make them a reality.

College of Textiles
P.O. Box 8301
Raleigh, NC 27695-8301
Telephone: (919) 515-6646
FAX: (919) 515-3733
JTATM Privacy Policy

Last Site Revision:
January 16, 2004