iLuv made big waves throughout the blogging sphere about a Jacket with iPod controls named Fashionology Jacket and a Bikini top with iPod controls integrated.
Those two ‘products’ may or may not turn out to be products. After all, iLuv is a company that sells iPod and other MP3 player accessories (very good one by the way) but they are not in the clothing business.
The distribution and marketing of clothing is very different to the Electronic business. I am not saying this is impossible for iLuv but I do not see any indication that iLuv is entering this market.
Using the ’signature’ iPod control layout, as found in a growing number of clothing, to attract attention shows to me that Wearable Electronic products are recognized and better known today than a year ..read more
Posted in: Articles
To wrap up Avantex, at least for today, some additional photos of design concepts waiting to be produced:
The left photo shows design concepts from Cetemmsa, a Spanish company offering the service of creating the Wearable Electronic part to fashion designer. A interesting concept we will pick up in the coming days and look in more details into that.
The photo in the center shows the newest version of Hohensteiner Institute’s Solartex Solar clothing and the right photo shows a more complex = multi button elastic remote control panel from Interactive Wear in a backpack.
A very significant observation is the introduction of Eleksen’s range of modules than can be bought from the consumer after the purchase of an e-Textile product like a Jacket for example. The Jacket has Eleksens textile keypad integrated. ..read more
Posted in: Articles, Trade Shows
This press release is about UniFirst, one of North America’s largest workwear and textile services companies.
According to this release, 33 million people are wearing uniforms on the job and soon some 1.2 million people will begin wearing uniforms this year by joining the workforce.
The fabrics used in some uniforms today can whisk moisture away from the skin and repel staining. Other fabrics can destroy illness-bearing bacteria says Robert Isaacson, Director of Marketing for UniFirst.
“Proof of that can already be seen in a current trend to develop uniforms using wearable electronic fabrics that can keep tabs on a wearer’s vital signs and even dispense necessary first-aid medications,” Isaacson says.
Bio-sensors like the one used in the Numetrex Cardio Shirt to record the performance on runners can be used in safety work-wear like ..read more
Posted in: Articles, UniFirst, Vitals Monitoring
Avantex and Techtextil 2007 will open its doors on June 11 for 4 days of highly interesting seminars and exhibitions on the future of clothing and textile innovation.
It is the second time those two events are held at the same time and the same place. Avantex target groups of designers and garment manufacturers, focuses on high-tech apparel textiles and presents developments ranging from the concept to the prototype stages. Techtextil is the world largest Trade Fair for Technical Textiles and Nonwovens.
This almost guaranties a highly charged atmosphere for participants from the industry and businesses but also for the visitors of the exhibitions.
Unlike the Smart Fabrics 2007 in May which was more focused on technologies, the Avantex 2007 is more about consumer presentation. Companies will show on the floor the latest ..read more
Posted in: Articles, CuteCircuit, Eleksen, Fibretronic, Interactive Wear AG, Trade Shows
In our review and outlook of Wearable Electronic, we investigate today the companies that contributed to the recent increase of Wearable Electronic products.
Quite a few companies entered the Wearable Electronic market last year with product launches. Some clothing manufacturers developed their own systems or out-sourced this to their manufacturing partners. Other clothing companies teamed up with companies specialized in providing solutions and know-how in integrating electronic into textiles to enable Wearable Electronic product designs.
It’s those specialized companies we will focus our review today. It’s those specialized companies we will focus our review today. The following 4 companies came up on our radar:
Eleksen
Fibretronic
Interactive Wear
Textronics
Textronics has launched a Heart Sensing Sports Bra in early 2006. The solutions Textronic offers are conductive yarns, interconnection between electronic and textiles and various bio-sensor integrated or ..read more
Posted in: Articles, Eleksen
The products introduced so far fall mostly in the category of ‘functional’ clothing and accessories like outdoor jackets and bags.
Today, we have a look to the Fashion clothing and check out what is happening in this area.
The most outstanding and active personality in the world of fashion design at this moment is Angel Chang.
Angel Chang presented her first collection with a technological twist at the Arts Corporation Studio in New York in September 2006.
Unlike most designers who primarily draw inspiration from fashion’s past, Chang’s innovative looks, like a light-emitting raincoat, a heat-sensitive dress and a iPod integrating Jumpsuit are refreshing steps forward towards fashion’s future.
For us very interesting is the jumpsuit model with built-in iPod control and pocket. The sporty ensemble and soft silhouette looks comfortable enough to wear to ..read more
Posted in: Articles
The current research indicates that wearable electronics will go much further than creating ‘just’ very small put still conventional electronic devices. Such small devices will not only be embedded on textile substrates, but the electronic device or system could become the fabric itself.
Electronic textiles will allow the design and production of a new generation of garments with distributed sensors and electronic functions throughout the garment. Such smart textiles will have the ability to sense, react, interact and store.
And the best part of this – it will become as cost effective to produce as it is the case with conventional textiles.
Those factors are not new to us here, we from talk2myShirt are 100% convinced that the time of Wearable Electronic for the consumer market will come very soon and we are ..read more
Posted in: Articles
The following text is taken from the research work from R. B. Katragadda and Y. Xu, “A Novel Intelligent Textile Technology Based on Silicon Flexible Skins”, Proceeding of the International symposium on wearable computer 2005 (ISWC05), Osaka, Japan, Oct. 18-21, 2005.
It shows a very interesting way on how to integrate complex electronic elements and function into fabrics. It is based on the idea to do the production of electronic components to a large extend in the for the electronic industry used processes but merge those conventional processes with the fabric and clothing specific requirements.
- begin quote:Intelligent textiles, variously known as smart fabrics, electronic textiles, or e-textiles, have attracted considerable attentions worldwide due to their potential to bring revolutionary impacts on human life. Despite many promising progresses in this exciting newly ..read more
Posted in: Articles, Technologies, e-Textiles
Over the past few years, Wearable Electronics was a buzz word that generated a lot of media attention and triggered a number of creative people and companies to come up with ‘out of this world’ ideas and concepts.
Unfortunately, this didn’t lead to the point that Wearable Electronic products became a business factor and enter the consumer market.
In the past few years I have visited symposiums with hundreds of experts discussing intensively why Wearable Electronic remains in its infancy and does not grow up as expected.
What is the missing link? Who in the industry should take the lead? The Electronic Industry or the Textile Industry or the Apparel Companies?
Those questions are still hanging in the room and no clear answer has been found so far.
But this is about to change with ..read more
Posted in: Articles
The year 2007 just started and we want to take the opportunity to have a look to the coming 12 months.What will change in 2007 in respect to Wearable Electronic? Will we see more products? More diversity? More practical ?
To give answers or better, predictions to the questions above, we look first briefly back to 2006.
The past year was the most active year in respect to Wearable Electronics. Never before have we seen so many different companies and products coming to the market.
Jackets in different styles and colors make the use of iPod and mobile phones much easier for those who look for alternative ways to interact with their electronic gadgets.
A wide range of Bags and Backpacks compliment the diversity of ways to protect and operate our portable devices.
The choice is ..read more
Posted in: Articles
