Coming back tired but energized from the great things I have seen around wearable electronic during a full day of walking and talking with interesting people in the smart textile area of the TechTextil trade show in Frankfurt, Germany, here are my first impressions:

The floor area dedicated for wearable electronic has been a bit smaller compared to my last visit in 2007 as the quantity of companies present in the wearable electronic area has reduced as well.

During various discussion with some people I sense the message that wearable electronic might not have the sensational effect anymore it had a few years ago or it does not take off as business as many expected.

Listening to such comments and watching carefully what is actually happening here on the show floor and out in the business, I do not share such ‘fears’ about wearable electronic.

My view is that wearable electronic is going through a much needed cycle of consultation and orientation after years of hyper speed and hyper attention it got in the business and research communities as well as the media.

For a new and revolutionary technology as wearable electronic is, the imagination and creativity of the possibilities wearable technologies can provide leaded often to expectations that do not reflect the technical development status. Sometimes too much optimism on all sides gave the impression every and any concept demonstrator can be purchased next fashion season.

It comes as no surprise to me that people need to slow down and work out more sustainable product designs and not just another concept demonstrator. People need to step back and evaluate the achievements and the learning done during the first pioneering days of wearable electronic.

Judging on the ‘second generation’ of wearable electronic companies if have seen and talked to during my visit, some evolving from the first generation like Fibretronic or InteractiveWear joined by new comers like Novanex, Intelligent Textiles Limited or Inntex to name a few, I am more than ever confident that wearable electronic will take it’s place in the limelight and take over the headlines again after this much needed recharging phase.

Stay tuned for detailed reviews of all these great companies I talked with,  the small and big innovation they have up their sleeves and the vision they share about wearable electronic.

techtextil, one of Europe’s largest trade fairs around textile innovation will, like in the past few years, cover Smart Textiles, showcasing innovative apparel textiles, future-oriented clothing and visionary prototypes under the slogan ‘the innovative interchange‘.

Innovative interchange opportunities are provided not only by visiting the 1000+ exhibitors on the show floor but also in parallel organized seminars offering a wide range of lectures from experts in the areas of research, technology and industry.

Visitors interested into wearable electronic the Avantex Symposium is the place to be as it will focus on Materials & Technology, Fashion, Sports & Outdoor, Wearable Technologies and e-Textiles.

Many well known companies and institutes in the field of wearable electronic will showcase their latest products and projects in Hall 3 which promises to be again a excellent spot to get informed and connected with the growing wearable electronic community.

techtextil will take place between June 16 and 18 in Frankfurt, Germany. If you are planning to go there drop me a line if you want to meet me there as I will check out the status of smart textiles first hand.

The 2008 Wearable Electronic event calendar kicks off next weekend (Jan 27-30) with the ispo winter 08 in Munich, Germany.

About 20 exhibitors will present their textile technological product innovations on 250 square meters in hall A6.118. As in the previous years, the winter ispo event is a good indicator on what is coming up next in Wearable Electronic products.

This years theme is ‘Wearable Technologies: Sport meets new technology‘.

Looking though the exhibitor list for the Wearable Electronic part we see once more the recent trend of solar charging bags. SolarShopper and Sunload will show their latest products.

Very interesting is the pre-information from Texsys GmbH which works on a project called G-CELL – Free Motion Communication integrated into hi-tech gloves. I am looking forward to see more of this gloves.

Heated clothing is gaining momentum as well with exhibitor Pensonic (HK) Corp.Ltd showing another interesting (and warm) range of heated clothing to stay warm next winter as well.

All in all a very interesting mix off companies. But there is more to see and hear on the ispo winter 2008. A high-caliber group of panel discussion participants will provide you with a glimpse into the future of wearable technologies. WT Panel Discussions, at noon, hall A6 / booth 118:

• Sunday, 1/27/08: Wearable Technologies & Motion Sensors – New trends in the use of motion sensors in sports
• Monday, 1/28/08: Mobile entertainment and sports meet wearable technology (in cooperation with Bluetooth SIG)
• Tuesday, 1/29/08: The navigation trend in the WT market – A must for retail
• Wednesday, 1/30/08: Green WT – ecologically-correct WT products

Four exiting days and we are looking forward to learn more about next seasons Interactive Sports Fashion.

Fashion meets Technology again during IFA 2007 between Aug 31 and Sept 5 in Berlin/Germany. IFA is the world largest Consumer Electronic Show and Wearable Electronic will have a strong presents during this event.

The Smart Textiles Interessengemeinschaft, a community that represents the interests of producers and developers from the application fields of fashion, sports, workwear and healthcare, is organizing the smartTextiles Village on booth 125 in hall 12.

For the first time, Bayern Digital Radio will show a Jacket with integrated TV receiver and Pierre Cardin a jacket with integrated solar panels to power our beloved portable gadgets.

The TV-Jacket called ‘badira’ can receive analog as well as digital programs and record them. according to the press release from Bayern Digital Radio the TV-Jacket was designed by the International Fashion School ESMOD Munich and is ideal for travel, sport or your time outside to stay in touch with the latest news and entertainment on the go.

I am already very curious how the TV-Jacket will look and work. Will this be the first jacket with a textile display in the sleeve? We will know more on coming Friday when the ‘badira’ site goes online.

Pierre Cardin’s Solar Jacket is more straight forward to my understanding, some photos are already available on the smartTextiles Website and we have seen already how it can look and work from Zegna.

Interesting also that both jackets will be available soon according a press release from smartTextiles.

But there is much more about Wearable Electronic to see on the IFA: Burton, O’Neill and Lodenfrey will present clothing with new functionality, Designer like Alexandra Baum from Textiles Interfaces and Heike Honing show how to integrate electronic into clothing.

Last but not least, Solar bags, the hottest Wearable Electronic item in 2007 will be presented by Sunload in cooperation with Picard to show the latest solar bag models.

Great things to see in the smart Village and we will keep our ears and eyes open for more product details to present you here on our blog.

Wearable Electronic takes center stage during the upcoming IFAI Expo 2007 from Oct. 3-5, 2007, in Las Vegas, USA.

IFAI stands for Industrial Fabrics Association International and is the most important textile industry event of 2007.

Especially interesting for us is the E-Textiles symposium which is part of IFAI. This symposium will have prominent speakers from the Wearable Electronic field and talk about topics like:

• Integrating Glow Skin Active Illumination Systems into Apparel
• Market Opportunities for Smart Fabrics
• Flexible Batteries for Smart Fabrics
• A Crash Course in Electronics for Textile Professionals
• Lessons Learned from the Market

and concludes with a panel discussion on Market Timing for Smart Textiles.

Everyone interested and/or working in the field of Wearable Electronic, E-Textiles, Smart Fabrics should make sure this event is on his/her agenda.

We from talk2myShirt look very much forward to hear what the experts have to share with us about creating successful Wearable Electronic products and take the market opportunities Wearable Electronic can offer.

For more infos about this event, check out our homepage or the Website of IFAI.

Wearable Electronic and Smart Textiles will be again on stage between July 22 and 24 during the CPD, a International Trade Fair for Womenswear and Accessories in Düsseldorf / Germany.

With 1,050 exhibitors representing a total of more than 1,430 brands from 38 countries, CPD Womenswear and Accessories is one of the biggest events in this category in the fashion industry.

Based on the success of the Wearable Electronic showcase during Avantex in June, the smart textile community presents again the growing variety of Wearable Electronic products.

A special section of 300 square meter has been set aside for the SmartTextil Village where Wearable Electronic, technical yarns and smart fabrics will be presented.

The latest creations from companies like Pierre Cardin, O’Neill, Picard, Daniel Hechter, Bäumler and Lodenfrey can be seen in the SmartTextil Village.

Wearable Electronic fashion is becoming a fix part of various shows and trade fairs in the fashion industry. With this latest initiative, Wearable Electronic products from those companies highlight once again the importance and value that the technological developments will have for the future of fashion.

If you are around Düsseldorf at the begin of next week drop by and have a look around the SmartTextil Village located in hall 11 booth F21.

Wearable Electronic takes again center stage for the third consecutive month. In May was the Smart Fabrics, this month the Avantex and coming month the ISPO Sport & Style in Munich / Germany.

Between July 8-10, the 1st Wearable Technologies congress “Where fashion meets technology” will be held in parallel with the sports equipment and fashion trade fair ISPO Sport & Style in the International Congress Centre Munich.

The cutting-edge congress builds a bridge between the high-tech and the fashion industry focusing on decision makers and experts from commerce, production, and science, in particular from the fields of sports, fashion, electronics and consumer electronics.

Wearable Electronic demonstrates how the combination of sports, fashion and lifestyle combined with the latest trends from the electronics industry creates authentic added value for customers and generates additional revenue potential.

The Innovations Hall will host the Wearable Electronic Technology exhibitors on 250 square meters, presenting all facets of this special market. iPod euphoria is as much part of this phenomenon as the analysis of the body’s functions and reactions during sports.

This event shows yet again that Wearable Electronic is becoming a trend that has the potential to shape the electronic as well as the fashion industry of the future.

We will keep you updated on the latest news about Wearable Electronic out of the ISPO Sports & Style and the Wearable Technology Congress in Munich.

Never before have been so many experts and companies in the field of Wearable Electronic, e-textiles or Intelligent clothing (to give it a name) together on one place to share information about research activities, show the latest and finest design concepts and products – yes, real world products and not just ideas ‘to-be-realized’.

Not to forget, those few days gave plenty of opportunity for networking, seeing ‘old friends’ and meet new people and companies with ideas ideas and products around Wearable Electronic.

To wrap up Avantex, at least for today, some additional photos of design concepts waiting to be produced:

The left photo shows design concepts from Cetemmsa, a Spanish company offering the service of creating the Wearable Electronic part to fashion designer. A interesting concept we will pick up in the coming days and look in more details into that.

The photo in the center shows the newest version of Hohensteiner Institute‘s Solartex Solar clothing and the right photo shows a more complex = multi button elastic remote control panel from Interactive Wear in a backpack.

A very significant observation is the introduction of Eleksen‘s range of modules than can be bought from the consumer after the purchase of an e-Textile product like a Jacket for example. The Jacket has Eleksens textile keypad integrated. The desired function a consumer likes to have for his/her Jacket can be purchased separately thanks to the standardized modular system for the different functions like iPod or cell phone or Bluetooth, or FM radio, … This concept allows to change easily the functionality of the Jacket by connecting any other of Eleksens modules.

The left photos shows the ‘ready-for-sell’ modules. We will look in more details to Eleksen’s new modules in a separate article.

The right photo shows a part of the huge range of different keypads ready for integration into garments or accessories from Fibretronic. This pre-fabricated modules allow garment manufacturers easy and simple integration of the Wearable Electronic part into clothing. A complete overview will follow in the coming days.

As mentioned on the begin, many highly interesting seminars and presentation have been running in parallel to the trade show. Wearable Electronic top experts like Suzanne Lee, Angel Chang and Clive van Heerden from Philips Design, Ryan Genz and Francesca Rosella from CuteCircuit and research institutes like University of Manchester, University of Pisa, Frauenhofer IZM. The list is too long to name all and everyone in this place.

The air was vibrant, filled with talks of the latest and hottest developments in Wearable Electronic.

We have do work now through a big pile of information material to filter out the most interesting stories to post here on our blog. Come back soon and check out what is coming in Wearable Electronic.

I have spend today walking the show floor of Avantex 2007 in Frankfurt to give you a first impression of the many many models on display.

Avantex is focusing on the visualization but also on the practical aspects of innovative and future clothing. Techtextil which is next door, is mainly focused on the manufacturing part of the garment creation process.

My overview focuses on the Avantex itself, providing a view of the things to come soon into the Wearable Electronic market.

From left to right: O’Neill h4 range for 2007/08 Jacket with Eleksen textile switch, O’Neill h4 collection with Fibretronic ‘Fidler’ switch and right photos the Zegna iJacket, Leather edition – beautiful, just beautiful.

This range of photos show from left to right: Bagir/Eleksen new collection of men’s business suit, Aquatry Jacket (on Eleksen booth) and Philips Lumalive vest on the right.

That range of photos above show from left to right: Rosner new style, Lodenfrey Jacket (excellent look and style for outdoors in fashion) and Lodenfrey ‘Lederhosen’ as seen before.

Last range of photos above from left to right: Sunload‘s solar power bag (looks even cooler than on images), TITV-Geiz Bluetooth skiing glove and on the right side, car seat with textile controls for seat adjustment also from TITV-Geiz.

This is just a ‘teaser’ and more in-depth information on each of those products will follow over the coming days. I need to get fit again for another exiting day on Avantex tomorrow to collect more information and photos for your viewing and information enjoyment.

Avantex started off today and Eleksen, the world’s leading provider of touch-sensitive smart fabrics for consumer electronics in apparel and accessories, announced a new product: a module for FM radio.

This new module essentially is a stand-alone FM radio but has also the availability to work with the widely available FM transmitter accessories out there which attach to an iPod or other MP3 player.

Eleksen’s FM radio unit is fully controlled by the new ElekTex fabric sensor incorporating Eleksen’s Common Interface technology. With an ElekTex sensor embedded in a garment or for example bags or backpacks, the FM Radio module forms a complete FM radio solution.

This means for clothing and bag designer that in some cases no textile wires are needed to connect the product like an iPod to the unique electro-conductive fabric touchpad from Eleksen.

The electronic gadget is stowed away safely in a backpack or pocket and is controlled from the sensor on a jacket sleeve or backpack handle.

Eleksen’s expertise in electronics increasingly is considered an asset in the competitive interactive cut & sew market.

We look forward to more news out of Avantex in the coming few days. The start was already very interesting thanks to Eleksen’s addition to Wearable Electronic technologies.

[source: businesswire]