What better way to demonstrate innovative thinking in sustainability and fashion than to reuse the billions of tapes that became obsolete with the CD and especially the emergence of MP3 players.

Instead of dumping the tapes in landfills, artist Alyce Santoro came up with a way to transform the out of use tapes into beautiful and durable textiles called ‘Sonic Fabric.’

But this is not the complete story, this innovative, creative use of sonic material for clothing has still the recordings, the music or spoken words on it.

Glide a tape head over your dress or tie and you can listen to your wardrobe – amazing. Sure, the audible quality depends on the speed you glide over the tape-fabric but nevertheless, a cool idea the bring my necktie to swing.

Ms. Santoro recently launched a line of neckties and offers Sonic Fabric by the yard for interior, fashion and accessories designers via her online shop.

The limited edition SONIC FABRIC NECKTIES comes in the colors of black, cement grey and dark brown, costing $140.- each. Information on how to get Sonic Fabric by the yard or a swatch kit can be found at the same place.

[via: Inhabitat]

Neckties are one of the few traditional fashion accessories for men although women take over this form of neckties as well. There a countless styles on the market and denying or not – a necktie is used to express the status, membership or many other ‘belonging to’ messages.

Necktie design has seen many transformations adding details with the aim to differentiate. Haute Tech neckties are another means to stand out from the masses …. until everyone has the same and one has to move on to something else.

We checked out the latest add-on function neckties for this season:

“Let’s connect” is the tag line for the USB Necktie from Dialog05 a collective of professional designer in Munich/Germany. ‘Universal connection’ is a collection of USB enabled objects bridging the gab between the analog and the digital world.

The USB necktie is a smart concept for the smart business person to make contacts connections – at a power lunch, during small talk – always ready to receive (via USB).

Another Haute Tech Necktie comes from Japanese company Thanko, the USB Camera Necktie which is highly recommended for use in top secret meetings and factory inspections.

The tiny pinhole camera is as good as invisible but provides a resolution of 352 x 288 pixels and a recording time of around four hours on the 4GB memory chip. Plug the tie into a Windows computer and you can instantly view and distribute your recorded spy activity.

We have seen mono-color neckties, neckties with an explosion of colors, neckties with all kind of funny and not so funny messages, Dilbert and other cartoon neckties – the list is endless.

USB, Solar or illuminated neckties bring a bit of fun into the otherwise serious business world – seriously.

[via: Dvice]

When it comes to fashion accessories the boys have usually less choice than the girls. One of the fashion accessories where men can express his individuality is a tie.

Single color ties for the more conservative occasions, patterned ties for the smart casual and the myriad of printed ties to express any kind of mood, taste, preferences and what else you have.

Enlighted, a company founded by Janet Cooke Hansen to create her own “dream job” as a light-up clothing designer offers the Power Ties™ collection adding a new light dimension to ties.

Next to a couple of mono color ties with light points a Printed Circuit Board Tie with 5 red LEDs attracted my attention.

This cute tie makes a great gift for engineers, computer scientists, and gadget fan-boys.

This is not to say engineer and gadget girls can not use this tie as well. Many girls ‘borrow’ a tie from their boyfriends once in a while to spice up the outfit.

The circuit board pattern is printed on the fabric, but the lights in this design come to live and flash in a variety of different patterns.

The Power Ties are powered by a pair of CR2032 coin cell batteries hidden on the backside of the tie and last for around 10 hours blinking and flashing.

Giving the Printed Circuit Board Power Tie to your electronic or software wizard might give you higher priority when you need help for your next Wearable Electronic project.

A little bit of bribery, especially when looking that cute can not harm

The Printed circuit board tie is available for $60.- directly by Enlighted.

Enlighted has many more enlightened accessories in their program and in case the girls under our readers feel a little discriminated by our boys coverage, have a look at the many light-up bras Enlighten offers.

Maybe these bras are not the best outfit to wear around the office but you will definitely attract your engineering friends attention with one of those bras during the next party.