Generative Wardrobe by designer Alex Dodge is a concept study that explores various wearable technologies to form a complete system from head to the toes.

Starting with a highly futuristic head cap called ‘Sleep Talker‘ envisioned to allow the broadcasting of one’s unconscious experience = dreams on social networks. Facebook with a dream status update – how does this sound?

Haptic-Synth is an undergarment type of thin shirt embedded with with an array of Haptic-Synth ‘cells’. Each cell contains a compression touch sensor coupled with a miniature haptic feedback actuator. The Haptic-Synth shirt acts as gesture based input and feedback device for the complete wearable technology system.

A light, cross-seasonal jacket called Wearable Interface explores the possibilities of embedding mobile technologies in a ardent serving as CPU for future wearable technology systems.

The jacket’s on-board processor with connections to USB ports, GPS, accelerometers, microphones, temperature or photo sensors, can be trained and programmed to interact with a range of other devices.

Last but not least interesting is the Powerstep, a pair of nicely design shoes converting mechanical energy via piezoelectric ceramic components inside the sole into electric current with each step.

[TomsGuide via GizmoWatch]

Professor Chongwu Zhou and his team of researcher at the University of Southern California produced flexible transparent carbon atom films that have great potential for a new breed of solar cells suitable to be integrated into garments.

Graphene OPV (organic photovoltaics) has been on the research agenda for a couple of years as means to transport electronics from hard substrate PCB (Printed Circuit Board) to soft, flexible substrates suitable to be wrapped around curved surfaces or even in clothing.

Professor Zhou’s lab reported the large scale production of graphene films by chemical vapor deposition three years ago. In this process, the USC engineering team creates ultra thin graphene sheets by first depositing carbon atoms in the form of graphene films on a nickel plate from methane gas.

These OPV films convert solar radiation to electricity, but not as efficiently as silicon cells like in rigid or the flexible solar cells commercially available today.

The power provided by sunlight on a sunny day is about 1000 watts per square meter. ‘For every 1000 watts of sunlight that hits a one square meter area of the standard silicon solar cell, 14 watts of electricity will be generated,’ says Lewis Gomez De Arco, a doctoral student and a member of the team that built the graphene OPVs.

Organic solar cells are less efficient; their conversion rate for that same one thousand watts of sunlight in the graphene-based solar cell would be only 1.3 watts. It is not as bad as this numbers suggest. Assuming this technology can be further developed into volume production with reasonable low costs, large areas could be covered with OPV films which are not suitable for rigid, planar surfaces.

OPV solar cell technology is yet another promising step into wearable power technologies of the future but as most of these developments at research stage, it will take a (very) long time until one of these hot technologies will make it into the commercial consumer market.

[source: Eurekalert via Printed Electronics World]

According to a job opening posting the Adidas Group is looking for a Textronics Senior Industrial Designer ‘to create wearable electronics performance innovations which drive the advanced product process from opportunity identification through production reality.’

Textronics, founded by Stacey Burr, created and commercialized a range of heart rate monitoring running tops and shirts using their patented textile electrodes.

Adidas acquired Textronics a few years ago and in turn launched Adidas branded runner tops and shirts with the same, textile electrodes seamlessly woven into the garment.

Adidas made some small steps into the wearable technology arena most with iconic concept products like the Adidas 1 high-tech sneaker or more recently the Adidas Cyber Sneakers.

This job opening does suggest that Adidas is planning to get more active in integrating technology in their product range as one of the key areas for the future Senior Industrial Designer will be to ‘Design and develop cutting edge product innovations that lead the wearable sports electronics category innovation agendas.’

From (my) wearable technology perspective this is interesting news as it suggests that a top brand in the sports apparel market will certainly lead to surprisingly innovative, technology enhanced fitness outfit in the near future.

The fascination of wearable illumination just got another twist by illumination fashion designer Moritz Waldemeyer who created a pair of illuminated sneakers for ‘Step Up 3D’, for the world’s first dance movie in 3D.

Over the past years we have seen shoes and sneakers upgraded with illumination ranging from kids shoes with blinking light in the sole to more stylish looking party sneakers using LED or EL elements.

Moritz has like in his other illumination clothing designs, raised the bar of how light elements in shoes can spice up otherwise dull and static looking shoes.

LED panels are placed around the sneakers. Integrated motion sensors create waves of light across the shoes depending on the movements of the dancers.

‘Step Up 3D’ will be released on August 3rd where the LED Sneakers will be at the spot light of action.

I don’t think this type of shoes will make it any time soon to retail, they might be too fragile to be beaten up on our city streets but for partying – LED sneakers would serve as a cool outfit.

We have seen our share on interactive gloves ranging from ‘just’ lighting up’ to the control of the virtual world on the computer. Gloves seems to be a prime target when it comes to electrify our wardrobe.

The Drum Glove System designed by Arnoud den Besten, Kristo de Pooter, Sam Vesters and Thomas Letermea, a group of students at the Artesis University College in Antwerp, setting the functionality level very high in the musical glove design concept category.

Drumming with your finger tips on the table is getting a complete different meaning and acoustic when you wear a pair for these Drum Gloves.

The Drum Glove system is a design concept study which envisions to have a full drum kit at your finger tips, controlled by the electronic in the backpack which also contains speakers and audio processing.

The team also imagines to enable multiple users to combine their (finger tip) drumming creating an out of this world drummer experience.

To demonstrate the how the Drum gloves could/will work the team made a video hammering away with their finger tips on a table top – impressive.

Sadly most of these cool design concepts never make it to the stores so if you really like that you might need to walk down the DIY lane.

[via: Designboom]

Imagine a pickpocket trying to steal your wallet but instead of getting your money he or she is in for a 220-volt jolt!

We have seen before the use of high voltage shock clothing like the No-Contact jacket designed for security and other law enforcement personal to give of an electric shock when touched by someone.

Shyam Chaurasia, a resident of Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi district in India gives another twist to this shocking, wearable design by giving an electrifying slap to pickpockets with his ‘Power-packed Jeans‘ design.

He designed a kit using some thin copper wires concealed as stitches on the back pockets of a pair of jeans, capacitors that collect and store electricity, electromagnetic switches and a 3-volt battery. The circuitry transforms DC power into high voltage AC power (similar to a electronic inverter used in EL T-shirts for example).

To activate the pocket power, flip the switch and the pickpockets will be in for the shock of their life.

Although his design might not be flawless at this point like when the jeans go wet what happens then or you forget to switch off before reaching yourself into the pocket -  I am sure a bit of thinking can make this work without the risk of having a shocking experience.

In any case, the idea is what counts and I find it brilliant, especially when visiting crowded places the risk of pocket snatching is high. The same principle might become also handy when integrated into a handbag, the prime target of pick pockets around the world.

‘How to get what you Want‘ is certainly the first address every eTextile enthusiast working or planning textile electronic projects. It’s full of amazing tips and tricks coming from Hannah Perner-Wilson, one of the sites main contributor.

New techniques are added very frequently so check out ‘How to get what you Want’ again and again. I am only giving here on talk2myShirt occasional reminders and re-posting about new items which completely amaze me like the fabric PCB etching by using a solution of vinegar and salt and Vaseline as resist.

The term ‘innovating on a kitchen table’ has never before been so literally as with this amazingly simple but highly innovative technique.

The recipe for this technological soup is very simple: 100ml vinegar mixed with 7ml salt. Take copper polyester Taffeta fabric from LessEMF for example, cover your layout with Vaseline and put it into the eTextile circuit fabric etching solution.

Out comes a clean etched copper pattern on a off-white textile substrate.

For a much more detailed background description, the different materials that could or might be used, check out the article at ‘How to get what you Want‘. Via Hannah’s Flickr stream you can see a load of photos of different layout artwork and the processing steps.

I am truly stunned by this technique which not only allows a simple way to etch PCB specifically for textile electronic it also allows to make artwork out of traces that usually made from straight lines, integrating the electronic needs (connecting traces) into the aesthetic of a wearable electronic design.

How technology can enhance fashion design has been nicely demonstrated by Tine Beez, a graduate of Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design with her ‘Fashion meets Technology‘ active wear collection unveiled last May.

The inspiration of her collection is drawn by the mountaineering legend George Mallory, using natural fiber combined with cutting edge wearable technologies to create  functional and visually appealing outdoor fashion for very chilly days.

While designing the ‘Fashion meets Technology’ Tine studied carefully the needs of mountaineers while in extreme cold environments which require thick layers of clothing but at the same time being able to move and act unobstructed.

Natural healing fibers such as Milk- Pearl and Aloe Vera help moisturize the skin and stimulate blood circulation in the outfit’s inner layers while Nano-technology is used to enhance wind protection and waterproofing in the outer layers without changing the fabric’s natural properties.

To protect against hitting rocks or other obstacles while in the rough outdoors, shock absorbent pads from d3o have been integrated into the garments to assist in safety and accident prevention.

Besides the comfortably considerations in the clothing design Tine did not forget to comfort the should of the wearer by adding the ConnectedWear system from Fibretronic to the outfit.

ConnectedWear is adding iPod control into clothing allowing to maneuver through the music collection while the iPod itself stays safe and warm deep inside the mountaineering clothing, away from the harsh environment of Mt. Everest.

[via: Dexigner]

Illuminating clothing, footwear or other fashion accessories inspire a growing number of designer who explore the possibilities of active light elements for fashion.

Italian-born fashion designer Francesca Castagnacci used the active light element as her inspiration to design Heels that contain fiber-optic material to emit subtle, classy soft color shades, not the usual, bright flashing color spots but discrete illumination.

Luminex, one of the leading companies that create optical fibers specifically to be used for fashion applications produces long, very thin strands of pure glass or plastic, no thicker than a human hair. These optical fibers are suitable to be woven together with conventional yarn to fabric structures.

The optical fibers themselves are not light emitting but need one or more LEDs on each end of the fiber or  bundle of fibers. By using RGB (Red, Green Blue) LEDs a simple program on an IC can created almost any color shade. The LED light travels through the optical fiber which is specially treated to allow light coming out along the fibers surface.

The effect is a subtile, almost mystical illumination. These illumination fibers combine with the design skills of people like Francesca Castagnacci bring sparkle to high end fashion objects.

[source: Yatzer via Ecouterre]

Most wearable electronic development we see today are made by attaching either permanently or removable electronic functionality. This concept has it’s usefulness in some areas but the ultimate break through in wearable electronic will be by fully integrating electronics into fabrics from which clothing is made.

Fabrics are made by weaving yarns of different types and colors. So wearable electronics will be the most important elements in wearable electronic development.

ETH Zurich is one of the leading institutes in wearable technology research and development since the early days of wearable electronics. A recently published research project by Scientists from Professor Gerhard Tröster’s Wearable Computing Lab developed a new technology to attach thin-film electronics and miniaturized, commercially available chips to plastic fibers.

The first electronic fabric patches produced are still ribbon-like but the researchers aim to produce intelligent textiles in any size so they can be cut as required to satisfy the requirements of the clothing industry.

These Electronic fibers can contain miniature sensors together with the necessary processing electronics building a smart, self-contained system in one string. Weaving them into fabric structures allow advanced electronic functionality of the fabric itself without relaying on attached or external hardware. Just connect power to these smart fabrics and these textiles come to life.

The research team is confident that such fabricated smart fabrics can be mass-produced on conventional looms and the woven structures are washable up to 30 degree Celsius.

This all sounds very promising and as I mentioned at the begin, a much needed step towards fully integrated wearable technology.

[source: ETH Zurich]