[lit-ideas] Excuse me, Miss -- I have an urgent message to send; may I type on your skirt?
- From: jimkandjulieb@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2006 08:27:24 -0400
Smart fabrics are back in fashion
By David Reid
Reporter, BBC Click
Fibre-optic clothing can be used for fashion or the emergency services
The Italian town of Prato has been built on cloth.
There is even a museum there dedicated to its history, so there is no better
place to weave together traditional Italian know-how with digital technology
and come up with the next generation of cloth, what they are calling "smart
fabric".
A company called Luminex has hit on the idea of weaving fibre-optics into
fabric, so the wearer can really light up a room when they enter it.
Luminex's Cristiano Peruzzi says: "It is a fabric containing, amongst other
things, fibre-optics, but there is also a technical side to it.
"The system consists of cabling, and the fibre-optics are lit by
high-efficiency LEDs. The system powering it varies according to the function."
It is easy to see how this technology could conceivably save lives in
conditions where visibility is low, such as in fog or smoke
Luminex's glimmering garments include shining shawls, as well as shirts and
trousers that twinkle. But it is not just night-clubbers whose stars are coming
out at night.
Cristiano Peruzzi says: "There are more immediate applications, everything from
clothes for special events or occasions and accessories, and also household
furnishings, cushions etc.
"But there are also a whole range of applications that are more technical, such
as the security and emergency services."
It is easy to see how this technology could conceivably save lives in
conditions where visibility is low, such as in fog or smoke.
Putting technology into fashion might also save the life of Prato's home-grown
fabrics industry, currently meeting the challenge of new competition from
Chinese companies and imports.
Interactive fabrics
Keyboard and audio controls can be incorporated into Elektex fabric
The Italians are not the only ones exploring the interface between fabric and
technology.
The British company Eleksen has come up with a fabric that is sensitive to
touch.
Elektex consists of three layers of fabric that allow a charge to run between
them when you touch them.
Eleksen's chief executive Robin Shephard says: "If it is simply touched, the
software will say 'it has been touched, so make that a button. So for a
keyboard, make that a Q, make that a W, make that an E, when it is touched
here, here, here.'
"But equally the software can say 'if it is touched in [a particular] sort of
motion, then it is a swipe gesture and I want you to put the volume up or I
want you to put the volume down.'"
The fashion brands are just understanding now that technology can be a
fundamental part of fashion
Robin Shephar, CEO, Eleksen
With the software rather than the fabric itself determining what it is used
for, the applications are limited only by your imagination and what is likely
to make money.
It can be used as a PDA pouch, especially if you go simply print a keyboard on
the side and tap away.
Eleksen also hopes that one day every jacket will come equipped with wireless
and washable iPod controls.
So how far are we from full blown hardware that is actually soft?
Robin Shephard says: "The fashion brands are just understanding now that
technology can be a fundamental part of fashion.
"Flexible displays [will] become proper flexible displays that you can bung in
the washing machine and it will wash them for thirty times and they will be
fine. When that happens, then we'll see a whole new wave of technologies and
information being able to be put into apparel and clothing."
It is not inconceivable that the technology and gadgets you use may not just
seem to cost, but actually become, the shirt off your back.
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