Sports apparel brand Reebok joins the growing list of sports brands that utilize soft, wearable technology in their apparel lines to record and stimulate the active folks around us in their drive to break records or just to monitor the fitness level.

Either way, the integration of a sensor network in sports apparel is getting high attention among these brands.

According this this press release, Reebok teamed up with mc10, a company founded in 2008, to develop the next generation of electronic systems through its Conformal Electronics Platform.

Unlike our main focus on talk2myShirt which is the integration of electronic functionality into fibers and fabrics, the mc10 technology is utilizing the research from founders Prof. John Rogers of UIUC and Prof. George Whitesides of Harvard, by fabricating coiled interconnecting metal wires onto the plastic.

The mesh is then bonded to a pre-stretched sheet of rubber which is encapsulated in a bio-compatible transparent piece of rubber. mc10′s technology platform uses standard tools and processes, combining the performance of traditional semiconductors with the mechanical properties of elastic (stretchable) materials.

The result of this methodology are elastic sheets of plastic like material which can bend and stretch with a bodies movement making it interesting to integrate in smart fitness and sports apparel that keep track of your mileage, sweating and degree of fitness.

We will keep on eye on the cooperation of these two companies and report back when the first smart Reebok shirt hit the shop shelves.

PLACE-it, the short form for ‘Platform for Large Area Conformable Electronics by InTegration‘ is a newly formed initiative under the umbrella of the European Commission under its Seventh Framework Program.

With a budget of around $15 million a consortium of leading companies and institutes in lighting and flexible electronics like Holst Centre/TNO, IMEC, Freudenberg, TU Berlin, Ohmatex under the lead of Philips with it’s inventive technology called ‘Lumalive‘ aims to develop an integration platform of foil, elastic and fabric optoelectronic technologies, formulate industry design guidelines for light-emitting flexible surfaces and textiles and will make their work presentable with demonstrators.

‘Until now, large area electronics R&D has been carried out independently for flexible, elastic and fabric based technologies‘ says Liesbeth van Pieterson, senior scientist at Philips Research and project leader of PLACE-it.

Bending light is a fascinating area which never fails to attract the attention from people who had the opportunity to see such demonstration objects close up. But bending light is one of the great challenges in the soft, flexible and wearable space, technology and manufacturing challenges need to be addressed in a coordinated way.

PLACE-it is a high profile project that might be able to place illuminated fabrics into the hands of future fashion designer to design clothing that sparkle, that change instantly colors at will.

The PLACE-it project will run for the next 3.5 years, a long time view for illuminated textiles but at last, there should be some flexible light at the end of the tunnel by 2013.

A visionary company is aiming to provide the wearable technology sector a much need boost into the commercialization of interactive clothing by offering a wide range of ‘ready-to-wear’ wearable technologies for the apparel industry.

Taiwan based TexRay, a global player in the fabric and apparel business with subsidiaries in North America, Asia and Africa offers various wearable technology solutions under the brand name AiQ, a business unit specializing into smart clothing.

To demonstrate their capabilities AiQ created the SmartMan product line for their customers to visualize their solutions.

The wearable technology portfolio currently on offer include:

ThermoMan, a garment heating system to keep people warm during cold winter times and even includes heating elements for water sport suits.
NeonMan, textile illumination modules for safety clothing and as fashion style element.
SoundMan, soft, wearable sound system, creating the successor of Boombags to turn clothing into a sound docking station for iPod and MP3 player.
MusicMan, based on the AiQ SwitchMan fabric switch for a seamless integration of music controls into garments.
CameraMan, a video module for integration into clothing to capture the action moment of your life.
BioMan, textile sensors to pick up heartbeat and other biometric signals of interest for activity monitoring or medical aid.
SolarMan, flexible solar panels for seamless integration into clothing, jackets that charge up all the devices in the pockets.

A very ambitious and long list of technologies and concepts we have seen around but the remarkable fact is: all this comes from a company that has it’s roots in the textile and clothing business for a long time. TexRay/AiQ are experts when it comes to supply fabrics and to fabricate clothing.

AiQ aims to offer to clothing brands solutions to integrate functions and fun into fashion. We have seen many of these technologies in demonstrators but only a very view made it to commercial products. Let’s see how big of an impact a company like TexRay via their smart clothing brand AiQ will be on the technology enhanced clothing market.

My expectation is high, the signs look promising as this initiative is coming from a business sector which has been considered as too conservative, too slow to become actively involved into wearable technology.

Apple, one of the most innovative companies in modern history with an excellent track record of turning traditional business up-side-down seems to have set their eyes on the next business to transform: Fashion

The resent announcement circling around the Internet of Apple hiring a wearable technology expert in the person of Richard DeVaul could mean more support not only from Apple but other companies towards the wearable electronic technology and product development.

Richard DeVaul holds a PhD. in Media Arts & Sciences from MIT where he worked on new human-computer interaction techniques for wearable, mobile, and portable applications.

He is also founder & President at AWare Technologies which offers simple yet highly effective fitness monitor/measurement techniques around the iPhone/iPod and it’s own, small and wearable activity monitoring devices.

According to the Computer World article ‘DeVaul will be working under Jonny Ive in a secret lab focused on wearable computing technology where only seven people besides Ive and CEO Steve Jobs know what he is doing.‘

I am very curious about the developments by Apple but also what ripples this appointment and commitment of Apple towards wearable technology development will have by other companies in the technology and the clothing industry.

Maybe we are witnessing the emergence of iShoes, iDress, iJackets, iShirts, …….

[via: Computer World]

My apologies to the many readers of talk2myShirt who have given valuable inputs via the ‘HAVE IDEAS?’ contact form over the past 3 month and never received feedback.

Due to my negligence I did not discover a broken link in the mail forwarding I have set up. Everything was fine until we moved talk2myShirt to a bigger hosting server end of last year.

Sure, we have redirected email forwarding to our new server and it worked fine at the begin but …. we got disconnected somehow afterward.

Instead of checking more often during the transition of hosting provider I was too trustful that everything works.

During our quarterly server maintenance this weekend we discovered the big mistake of not checking earlier.

All submitted forms are on the server but not forwarded to our collective email account. I started immediately to read each of them and give my feedback. Most of this is already done and the remaining contact inputs will have my feedback returned in the next few hours.

The problem with email checking and forwarding is fixed now. Additionally we have added on the right navigation panel, next to the search option, a ‘Contact us’ button where you can directly send your comments, feedback, suggestions without the need to go to our ‘HAVE IDEAS?’ page.

Adding a ‘Contact us’ button clearly visible and easy to reach was of course long overdue but it needed this ‘disaster’ to make us move and update our blog template.

Again, my apologies to everyone who send comments during the past three month, I will answer you shortly.

Erich Zainzinger,
Founder and Editor of talk2myShirt

Great news for owner of interactive clothing and bags fitted with the Fibretronic CONNECTED-wear system. A brand new module is on it’s way to the stores promising great value for a few bucks.

The new IPLX module connects via the headphone connector to the iPod and iPhone and not via the dock connector.

To our knowledge, this is the first iPod controlling interactive fashion module using the more conveniently connectable headphone connector to hook up your shine Apple devices to your cool jackets and bags.

The IPLX iPod Controller operates the usual Play/Pause, Rewind, Fast Forward, Volume Up and Volume Down functions and works nicely with all new generation iPods and iPhones up to the latest and button less Shuffle.

Another sweetener of this new module is the price: it will cost around US$10.- less than the predecessor module IP30, leading to a retail price of around US$15.-

Here is a complete list of iPod and iPhones the IPLX iPod Controller is compatible: iPod Classic 120GB, iPod nano 4th generation, iPod touch 2nd generation, iPod shuffle 3rd generation, iPhone and iPhone 3G.

We will post an update when the IPLX module is hitting the online shops but in the meantime you might want to go shopping here or here or here for a cool, interactive jacket for you and your iPod/iPhone.

QIO Systems, one of the leader in wearable electronic, announced the launch of its PANiQ wearable electronics system making PANiQ the world’s first wearable consumer electronics brand.

‘We are building the next generation of wearable electronics and interactive fashion at QIO Systems,’ says QIO Systems Co-founder and President, John Collins.

While QIO and PANiQ work closely with apparel brands and manufacturer to get the wearable technology integration perfectly made, the comprehensive modular program PANiQ is offering now allows consumer to select and choose the functions needed and wanted.

The most exiting aspect of the PANiQ system is that consumer not only can choose to connect an iPhone, iPod or BT phone, they can also choose from a range of different, colorful module designs to fit better their personality and style taste.

At PANiQ’s launch the PANiQmode products include apparel manufacturers ranging from urban styles, to sportswear, to leisure and business-wear.

What this means: through the PANiQ online shop one can browse and select the different modules with prices ranging from as low as $19.99 for the iPod controller up to 79.99 for an iPhone or BT controller. But this ‘one-stop-shop’ from PANiQ let you browse and order selected interactive apparel from different brands. Last but not least, you can even buy earbuds fitting to your selected style at the same place.

John Collins also highlights the advantages PANiQ gives to apparel brands: ‘PANiQ changes the game by making wearable electronics affordable and achievable for brands across all segments. The PANiQ program gives fashion and sportswear manufacturers the luxury to stay focused on their core competence of fashion, and leaves PANiQ to manage the rest.’

Highly interesting is the following remark: ‘PANiQ lets apparel manufacturers enter the burgeoning wearable electronics segment for as little as $5′.

Click over to this new, colorful and exiting place to check out for yourself all those goodies and stay tuned for more detailed news after we have digested the wealth of information coming in from PANiQ.

Fibretronic, one of the wearable electronic system providers for the apparel and soft goods industry, started to offer their range of CONNECTED-wear™ smart modules that hook up to wearable electronic enabled clothing and bags allowing to extend the clothes functionality beyond being just clothing.

The great news about CONNECTED-wear’s  modular system for interactive fashion: for the first time everyone can chose which function or product he/she likes to use with a jacket or bag. You could use one and the same ‘Fibretronic enabled’ bag or jacket with different modules, depending what you want and need to have with/on you.

Changing a cell phone or audio player, just go to selected retail stores or to Fibretronic’s online shop and chose from the range of functions on offer which includes: iPod control, audio control for all other audio player, iPod with Bluetooth and wireless iPod controller.

Yeah – still a lot of iPod but I am sure other products will be supported soon as this modular concept makes it easy to add function/products as they come to the market.

Prices range from as low as £6.99 ($12.27) for the volume controller up to £32.99 ($57.75) for the iPod Bluetooth system which let you control the iPod and any Bluetooth enabled phone.

The online store is active for UK and EU customers with US and Canada online store following soon.

A recent interview given by Rod Tanks, managing director of Smart Fabrics highlights the difficulties Wearable Electronic is facing but also indicates that Wearable Electronic is ready to take off.

This interview is full of very interesting observations on Wearable Electronic. Coming from a businessman Like Rod Tanks who’s company is one of the first 100% dedicated companies for Wearable Electronic products since 2003, counts even more.

An interesting analogy Rod Tank makes is: “The market in general will take off,” he says. “Cast your mind back to the first mobile phones, which were like carrying bricks around, and there were probably only about half a dozen streets in Sydney where they could work.”

I can confirm that not only in Sydney but many parts of major cities around the world where without cell phone reception just 10 years back.

As soon as consumers saw the added value of cell phones to their life this business exploded and billions have been spend to make cell phones ubiquitous as they are today. That all happened in just little more than 10 years.

Tanks sees also the difficulty Wearable Electronic faces at this moment: converging two very different industries which is holding back the faster introduction of Wearable Electronic: “The textile and apparel sector, which is very old and very well-established, and the other is the technology sector, which is very young and accelerating at an incredible pace.”

“Wearable technology requires the convergence of these two sectors and the channels they use. The difficulty is the mismatch between the distribution channels, the margins and pricing strategies of the two.”

“Take the textile and apparel sector for example. They play with margins generally in the 80 to 100 per cent mark-up range, even 200 per cent, at times. In the electronics industry, on the other hand, if someone can scoop up 12-15 per cent margins they start to think about retiring on the profits and it is all happy days.”

This is a very interesting view and might explain to a certain extend the limited availability of Wearable Electronic products. Sure, it does not explain everything as the technology itself does not offer a wide range of options at this moment either.

But companies like Smart Fabrics with people like Rod Tanks on the top give high hopes that anytime soon we, the consumer will see more Interactive Fashion in the stores.

Smart Fabrics is planning to expand in 2008 their operation across Asia to cater for the different needs in this region, adding services for Smart Fabric integration by other companies and expanding their own design and development of consumer products which are promoted under the G-Tech brand.

Read the full interview by Australia IT

2008 is getting a hot year for Wearable Electronics, not only because Solar bags are a hot trend, not only because we have predicted this in our 2008 New Years forecast and the many other recent announcements made in the first few weeks of 2008 but because todays news might be dynamite with the potential to change the Wearable Electronic world – big time.

According an early heads-up (thanks J & J) we learned that QIO Systems, the wearable electronics spin-out of Eleksen, has agreed to a joint sales and marketing agreement with Cotswold Industries. Cotswold will resell QIO’s full line of accessory electronics designed for iPod and Bluetooth devices and Eleksen’s ElekTex® touch pads directly to apparel customers worldwide.

The reason for my excitement: Cotswold brings a truly global capability to the wearable electronic market. With a global logistics team already focused on providing millions of items each year to some of the globe’s top brands like Levi Strauss, The Gap, VF Corporation, Abercrombie & Fitch and others, Cotswold has the power, resources and a proven reputation to deliver with a world class customer service.

‘All of our customers are interested in this space …’ remarked James McKinnon, CEO of Cotswold Industries, ‘We’re so excited to be the organization to take QIO’s solutions to the mass market. Our goal is to embed an ElekTex touch pad in every outerwear garment within the next 10 years.’

I think the 10 year time frame from James McKinnon is on a very conservative side considering the competence of QIO’s Wearable Technology and the 50 years of experience in the garment business from Cotswold.

This mix of competences is dynamite and if it ignites we all know what’s happening: an explosion of the Wearable Electronic market

For the full press release please visit our main site.