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.

Textronics Inc. the innovator and creator of the NuMetrex fitness apparel collection is giving the term ‘Smart Textiles’ and Heart rate monitoring for training, fitness and health care a complete new meaning.

Textronics has been recently awarded a patent for its textile-based electrode system by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.

The patent is for stretchy textile electrodes that can be incorporated into wearable garments to comfortably monitor the wearer’s heart rate, ECG or other electrical activity of the body.

Almost at the same time Textronics received the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance to market its textile-based ECG Electrode for use in general electrocardiograph monitoring and recording procedures.

That’s in layman’s term the confirmation of the almighty FDA that Textronics sweetly soft, stretchy and comfortable smart textile sensor is not just picking up some signals, it is a high quality and accurate sensor for ECG measurements.

The FDA approval opens the door for Textronics to enter with it’s textile electrode technology the health care market, where advances in technology enable people to monitor their biofeedback from the comfort of their own homes.

This recent announcements establish Textronics and its NuMetrex range of heart rate monitoring fitness apparel as the clear leader in this market.

A few month ago the future of Eleksen and with it its ElekTex textile sensor technology that has made a huge impact in the Interactive apparel business in 2006/2007 was very uncertain to say the least.

The first re-emergence of Eleksen and its technology was in form of an acquisition of its assets and business by Peratch. The latest development in the Eleksen story seems to bring the know-how and competence of Eleksen and ElekTex back and stronger than ever.

The newly formed company QIO Systems™ gained in a deal with Peratech the worldwide exclusive license to the intellectual property and design rights for the electronics and textile touchpads of Eleksen and for the manufacture and sale of ElekTex textile touchpads for use in both consumer and commercial applications. In exchange, Peratech will take an equity shareholding in QIO Systems

QIO Systems will also acquire the rights to Eleksen’s eSystem merchandising programs and will be launching eSystem electronics at retail in time for the Back-to-School ’08 and Fall/Winter’08 fashion seasons. QIO Systems will be launching complete iPod control solutions and iPod-Bluetooth solutions in time to support outstanding customer demand. The company plans to bring a comprehensive range of eSystem electronics for sale at retail by the end of Q1 2009.

“This deal sets QIO Systems on the path to success. We’re committed to continuing Eleksen’s tradition of exceptional customer support and innovation in wearable electronics solutions,” remarked John Collins, President and CEO of QIO Systems, “It’s exhilarating to be back with the technology, relationships and customers we know so well.

The team at QIO Systems is being led by John Collins, CEO of QIO Systems and former VP of Marketing and Business Development at Eleksen, and Vassilis Seferidis, CTO of QIO Systems and former VP Product Management. John and Vassilis were responsible for the initial development of Eleksen’s wearable electronics product lines and the innovation which drove Eleksen to the top of the wearable electronics market. They are being joined at QIO System by several key Eleksen team members.

This arrangement is excellent news for the continuation and development of Interactive Fashion on a larger, industrial scale. We wish the new team lot of success and looking forward to write about many new and exiting Wearable Electronic products in the near future. That’s what we love and that’s what we are here for

For more infos please check out the full report on our main portal.

After the transfer of Eleksen to Peratech, another transfer in the Wearable Electronic space took place to strengthen the design and manufacturing base of interactive fashion: WEEL Technologies has successfully completed a management buy-out of the Wearable Electronics company FITRIGHT Industrial which has designed and manufactured Wearable Electronic components into Apparel, Bag and Accessory products for a number of leading brands in outdoor and sports bags and apparel.

WEEL takes over all manufacturing assets, technology rights, patents and supplier agreements and will continue focusing on the design, manufacturing and system integration of Wearable Electronic into Apparel, Bag and Accessory products.

The team of WEEL Technologies worked with leading brands to design, manufacture and integrate Wearable Electronic solutions into Apparel, Bags and Accessories like:

• Wearable Remote Controls (China Coin and customized keypads)
• Personal Audio (Wearable Speakers & Amplifiers for iPod/MP3 Players)
• Illumination (Electroluminescent and LED Lights)
• Environment (Heated Apparel, Cooling Accessories and Wearable Sensors)
• Power (Portable Solar Panels with Rechargeable Power Banks)

“The WEEL team is very excited about our future. WEEL will focus on delivering Wearable Electronics components and systems to our core market in the Action Sports industry. Our management team has been fortunate to be part of some of the best success stories in Action Sports over the past 5 years,” said Michael Corbett, General Manager of WEEL Technologies, former President of FITRIGHT Industrial.

“Our agreements with Apple and Bluetooth SIG have transferred into WEEL to enable the latest developments in iPod/iPhone as well as personal wireless applications.”

Apparel and soft good brands interested in getting their product ideas realized have yet another option to bring their Wearable Electronic design ideas to the market.

[source: press release]

Peratech Limited acquired the business of Eleksen from Deloittes, the appointed administrator of Eleksen plc and Eleksen Limited.

Eleksen went into administration in Oct. 2007 after being unsuccessful in raising additional funding needed to realize their ambitious plans for 2008.

Eleksen gave a big boost to Wearable Electronic and Interactive Clothing by working with major brands as O’Neill, ZegnaSport, Marks & Spencer’s, Kenpo, Jansport and many others over the past two years. A large range of products has been introduced as you can see on the many products we posted about on talk2myShirt.

Philip Taysom, joint CEO of Peratech commented “The sad demise of Eleksen plc took everyone by surprise – and we have worked very hard to ensure there is a smooth transition for customers who had planned products based around Eleksen’s ElekTex apparel control products for the 2008 seasons – manufacturing is being brought back online and we look forward to fulfilling customer requirements in the immediate future.”

Peratech invented and developed QTC (Quantum Tunneling Composites), a technology for electro-active polymeric materials which enable the action of ‘touch’ to be translated into an electrical reaction. QTC materials allow to incorporate very thin and highly robust ‘sensing’ of touch.

The QTC technology has been commercialized by Peratech in 2006 and is working currently with a number of clients which implement QTC sensing technology within their own products.

Peratech acquired in 2006 another pioneer of smart fabrics, SOFTswitch™ and their technology and integrated it within its own QTC operation.

This is very good news for the Wearable Electronic community and the brands that worked on the 2008 interactive apparel range but also good news for the consumer who can find and select from the next generation of Interactive Clothing.

2008 becomes a very interesting year having already two promising announcements so far, one is the new CONNECTED-wear™ system from Fibretronic and now the revival of ElekTex sensors from Peratech.

[via: BusinessWire.com]

Fibretronic made a blazing start into the 2008 Wearable Electronic year with the introduction of the CONNECTED-wear™ program.

The uniqueness of this new system from Fibretronic is the separation of the textile component, the keypad that goes into clothing and fashion accessories, from the control electronics, the small box that is talking to the iPod, cellphone or audio player in your pocket or bag.

The consumer activates his/her garment or bag according the needs by purchasing an electronic module from the CONNECTED-wear™ product range which will be available from selected retailers and online.

Initially the CONNECTED-wear™ modules will be available for iPod, MP3 player and music phones.

The flexibility of selecting after the purchase of a garment or bag the product compatibility comes from the standardized system of the CONNECTED-wear™ range. Such a standardized systems allows the mix and match of modules and clothing as well as the addition of new functions as they are developed for future products and make so your clothing or bag purchase compatible with future generations of personal electronic devices.

The benefits of CONNECTED-wear™ are huge:

• Low entry costs for apparel manufacturers allowing them to integrate the controls in a wide range of garments and soft goods.
• The customer decides which electronic module he/she wants to work with the CONNECTED-wear™ garment.
• The electronic modules can be transferred between CONNECTED-wear™ enabled garments.

Soon we will find hand-tags on clothing and bags informing us about the CONNECTED-wear™ readiness of the product that adds interactivity to our fashion.

My article about the outlook of Wearable Electronic in 2008 is not even 24 hours online but with this announcement from Fibretronic I feel confident that my expectation of meeting and exceeding the VDC forecast for 2008 is well in reach thanks to new concepts like the CONNECTED-wear™ system.

Make sure you subscribe to our e-Newsletter (see upper right sidebar) to be one of the first to read about the new CONNECTED-wear™ ready clothing line.

Up to now we have focused in our articles on talk2myShirt about Wearable Electronic for fashion, clothing and sport activities. But smart textiles and the integration of electronics into fabrics and garments have a much wider application field than having ‘only’ fun with it.

Wearable Electronic for medical application enables patients to shorten stationary care by wearing garments that can monitor the body functions through integrated sensors and wireless communication technology. In this way, one can at least leave the hospital bed and go around instead of having to stay in bed all time.

More advanced systems allow patients on the recovery path to leave the hospital care earlier compared to present monitoring techniques used.

Sensor and wireless equipped medical garments like bras, shirts, pants or stockings can also serve to monitor ones health and well being in certain situations like dangerous work environments.

Smart textile development for medical application is supported from many countries with research funding and first companies enter the market with products.

So did for example a team of scientists at University of Bolton with help from the Hong Kong Productivity Council develop a Smart Bra (the image above is not related to this project) to detect the early stages of breast cancer.

Developed by the Centre for Materials Research & Innovation (CRMI) at the University of Bolton, the Smart Bra uses a microwave antennae device which is built into the bra structure. While wearing it, data about the breast is being collected by the embedded microchips which then produce a computer-generated image of the breast.

Speaking at the seminar on “Smart Bra for Early Cancer Detection and Introduction to New Technical Textiles”, Professor Elias Siores, Director of CRMI, said: “The breast screening smart bra is an invention that allows users to detect breast cancer at a curable stage. It is a low-risk, non-invasive, simple-to-use and cost-effective device that can provide easily-interpreted data.”

This and similar developments in Wearable Electronic for medical application show how Intelligent Textiles can improve the quality of our life.

Boost Products from The Netherlands will be the first company using Philips Lumalive light emitting textiles for clothing.

After years of research, Philips has succeeded in incorporating special LED technology into fabric. “Lumalive brings fabrics and clothing alive”, says Bas Zeper, CEO of Philips Lumalive. “This now gives marketeers a tool with which to reach their market in an interactive and more effective way.”

“The LED technology in Lumalive offers unlimited graphics and interactive applications and, in combination with the trendy promotion clothing, guarantees an impressive and distinctive experience.” says Raymond Lentz, director of Boost Products.

I can imagine having parties where everyone has one of those shirts. A visual explosion of colors to the beat of the sound. Changing the color or images depending on the size of the group, the heart beat (for the love birds under you), images visualizing the stress level (that one is for me) and many more thing come to mind.

This wishes might still need to be realized but the first Lumalive shirts for promotions will be available in November 2007. Boost Products is going to stage spectacular demonstrations to put the revolutionary Lumalive technology in the spotlight.

We will keep our eyes open for the first public show to check out the full potential of this new material – Lumalive brings fabrics alive – as the press release says.

As regular reader of our Blog, you are well informed about the hottest trend in 2007: Solar and iPod bags.

The Washington Post‘s article from yesterday’s edition: Let Your Gadgets Soak Up the Sun features ‘… a new generation of photovoltaic gadgets employs the sun’s rays to power iPods, cellphones and more.‘

The top of their list is Reware‘s Juice Bags followed by a range of other portable solar charger.

CNN picked up SIGGRAPH’s UnRavel event with a report headlined: You wear IT well, featuring next to others Leah Buechley’s LED bracelet and the Solar bikini from Andrew Schneider.

The CNN article states: ‘Today’s latest gadgets are so refined and petite that they clip on to a belt or slip easily into a pocket or a bag. The next challenge confronting designers and engineers is to make technology not only portable but also wearable.’

USA Today in today’s article Backpacks: A new ‘badge’ of cool states: ‘Backpacks are no longer just for lugging books and peanut butter sandwiches. Students also pack them with laptops, cellphones and iPods. They’ve evolved into techno-fashion statements that have to look hip, feel comfortable and hold an ever-evolving array of stuff.’

A very interesting article by USA Today that describes the huge size of the backpack market and the big shift from being ‘just’ a bag towards the technical evolution of backpacks to be functional, personal and fashionable.

Following the examples of recent media coverage and I think there is more I didn’t come across (yet), Wearable Electronic is attracting the attention of ‘heavy weights’ in the news business and with it, a wider audience.

And we are also happy to see that talk2myShirt manages to give our readers information and insights on Wearable Electronic a little bit ahead of our big brothers and sisters in the news industry.