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Cute Circuit has its Galaxy Dress on display aat the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. This dazzling dress features 24,000 LEDs and is a truly stunning piece of tech clothing. The dress is made with 2mm by 2mm LEDs woven into a silk chiffon and organza crinoline fabrics. This makes the dress more flowing and wearable. Power comes from several iPod batteries that are hidden into the garment itself. This is perhaps the most tasteful LED garment to date.
Dots Gloves makes a whole lot of cool gloves. These cool knit gloves are used to be able to register on touch screens with out removing the glove. They come in left or right handed and are usable with resistive and other models with capacitive screens (iPhone users can rejoice). This version is for resistive touch and have rounded metal tips that wont scratch your screen. Really cool for $10.00.
Textronics, a leader in textile sensor technology, is now offering a DIY kit for people interested in developing heart rate monitoring textiles. This marks the first time that Textronics is offering and official kit for purchase.
The Developers Kit offer 12 textile sensors, a variety of knit tubes, wrist cuffs and chest straps. Additionally they include conductive thread and 2 transmitters with the kit. These transmitters are compatible with most analog heart rate monitors like Polar.
The kit which sells for $100.00 is a very thorough kit to help anyone start anyone get started in the vital monitoring garment game. This can open the door to many fitness and sporting tech garments. It is always great when an industry leader can offer these kits to the general public. Making it easier for ..read more
QIO Systems is now offering textile touch pads for fashion fabricators. Using Elektex and SOFTswitch technology, and is completely fabric. That means that it can be washed and dry cleaned. Even though it is washable, it is rated at up to 100,000 keypresses.
Next to the fabric keypad QIO Systems offers a wide range of electronic modules with control functions for the iPod, Bluetooth cell phones, wearable radio, Push-to-talk solutions and complete solution for integrated heating and integrated lighting into garments and soft goods.
Fibretronic has released a new series of controls. The FTXS series is a soft control keypad that is able to be integrated into textiles. The super soft keypad is targeted for mobile devices.This is designed to work directly with Fibretronics CONNECTED-wear modules for iPod, iPhone and MP3. These Fibretronic products are found in many smart textiles sold.
The Pacer Suit from the designer Nikola Knezevic and Danilo Zizic can turn you into a musical marvel.This suit transforms every move of your body into sound by transforming your body into a musical instrument. The muscle movements are detected via the strategically placed sensors integrated into the suit. The muscle movements are then amplified and converted into sound. A control panel on the front allows volume adjustment as well as selecting the type of sound, the rhythm to follow and more.
NYU Interactive Telecommunications student Alexander Reeder, has created a true one-off interactive textile. This stunning design features an automated butterfly laden dress with interactive behavior.The butterflies are activated by motion and are controlled but the wearers heart rate. The motion activation is triggered by proximity to the dress by other people. Motion consists of fluttering and as the person gets closer, the butterflies move upward.The butterflies are attached with magnetic snaps, which also supplies power. As the butterflies are removable, the dress can be worn with no butterflies or just one or all at once. A small gear motor is used to drive the flapping mechanism. Based on the Lilypad module, collecting data and controlling the butterfly’s wing motors. A heart rate monitor belt powered by ..read more
ONO Running brings us a cool concept. Its a fashionable tech sneaker that has a glowing heel. Its a tasteful balance of cool and competent. The glowing heel provides safety and visibility in low light scenarios.The inventors of the ONO Glow sneaker Matt Galica and Elliott Temkin learned from their own experiences that reflective material is not enough to provide safety from cars at night. They also wished for integration into what they would normally wear so they would not have to worry about leaving something at home.
The discrete design is barely visible when not illuminated. When lit, three colored LEDs shine into a dispersing fiber optic band. Operation comes from a button on the side of the heel, where on and off as ..read more
Remember in Back to the Future, when Marty has those automated Nike shoes? VectraSense Technologies is making that tech closer to reality. Verb for Shoe is dynamic shoe, which is not a first for them. Back in 2000 they created the first computerized shoe.Verb for Shoe features 2 inflatable balloons that adjust to the wearers activity level. The on-board computer makes real time calculations to constantly adjust. The shoe also has a social aspect. It is able to communicate with other Verb for Shoes. The Verb for Shoe connects to a PC wirelessly so you can literally walk with them in the virtual world as well. Part of the experience VectraSense offers is to create an online platform where Verb for Sense wearer ..read more
Alina Designs‘ LED lighted Dress Shoes feature 3 LEDs, red, green, blue. These primary colors can be mixed to create numerous color combos. A single AAA battery can power these super bright LEDs for about 12 hours. A tiny computer controls the LEDs in each shoe to give 5 basic modes of LED cycling plus “secret” modes and “holiday” modes that the user may figure out based on some hints.The tech behind these shoes are from Chromasic developed by Color Kinetics. This system controls the lighting and is a pioneer in small applications. The trick is Smartjuice, another Color Kinetics design. Smartjuice sends both power and signals over a shared 2 wire layout.These shoes go for $85.00 to $125.00.