Intelligent Fabric for better Bra design

Smart and Intelligent fabric allow designers of sport bras to improve the wearing comfort for the active women according to a demonstration of an Australian research team from the University of Wollongong.

Fitted with tiny sensors, the fabric will monitor and measure even the smallest movement in the breast.

Two volunteers, aged 30 and 39, one wearing a 36D bra and the other a 38DD, were instructed to walk on a treadmill at 4.3mph and then speed up to a jog of 6.2mph.

The finding of this test: all the strain and stress from the breast movement, which can be as much as 2.7 inches during jogging, is being borne by the straps. This could explain the shoulder pain and tingling in the arms that many women suffer during physical activities. Done over prolonged time, these ill fitting bras could cause long-term nerve damage.

According to the UK’s Telegraph, as many as 80 per cent of women are estimated to be wearing the wrong bra, particularly during exercise and thus increasing the risk of pain and nerve damage caused by bra straps.

It was the first time a textile sensors for breast movement analysis was used rather than rigid parts that have been incorporated into bras to test the level of movement in the past.

Thanks to the development of intelligent fabrics, brassiere designers have now the ability to directly assess the effects on wearing comfort of each brassiere component.

Finally a use of intelligent fabrics which is not controlling the iPod

[via: StyleGuru]

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