Integrating light elements into clothing never ever fails to attract astonishment and the ‘wow’ effect when unsuspecting people come for the first time in contact with illuminated clothing.

I experienced this first hand while working on illuminated textiles, a rewarding feeling for the designer. What puzzles me is why textile illumination has not been more adopted by now by fashion brands.

There are a few exceptions like the gorgeous light emitting dresses from MOON Berlin and Cute Circuit and a range of stage-wear created by various designer for artists but besides this very limited availability it’s still dark in the fashion world.

How exiting illuminated fashion is has been once again demonstrated by fashion graduate student Caitleen Moloney at the CIT (Canberra Institute of Technology) in Australia last December.

For her final year project Caitleen designed five outfits featuring LED’s integrated into pockets that create indirect, soft light effects.

Caitleen Moloney does not see this type of fashion design ready for every day wear but is more interested in costume design for performing art and artists.

Is it because textile illumination is not yet developed to a point where it can be used for consumer products? If this is the case the challenge would be in the wearable tech community to do the homework and create reliable systems fit for use in ready-to-wear fashion.

Fashion represents a very emotional, luxury item in our life, it does not (only) fulfill a basic functional need. Fashion is allowed to dream, to imagine, to be playfully creative yet, in reality, our fashion in the ready-to-wear market is made from very traditional materials, the creativity is limited to cut and color variations.

How well received textile illumination can be … read the last part of the Canberra Times article featuring Caitleen Moloney’s illuminating collection.

Picking up on my habit featuring DIY infos for the weekend, the recent announcement of Adafruit about the soon to be launched wearable electronic platform called Flora, designed by Limor Fried aka Ladyada, is promising a exiting year ahead for the eTextile community.

Flora will be an alternative to the currently available LilyPad, a wearable computing platform used by the eTextile community as essential part in their tool box.

The circular shape is taking it’s lead from the LilyPad but Flora comes with a smaller footprint measuring just 44.45mm (1.75 inch) in diameter compared to 50mm (1.97 inch) of the LilyPad.

A great advancement is also the inclusion of a mini-USB connector on the Flora board, taking away the need of an additional breakout board for USB connection to a computer. This on-board USB connector makes updating of the Flora software on the fly easy.

14 sewing tap pads for attachment and electrical connection will give lot of room to create complex wearable tech systems.

Almost any battery can be connected safely to the Flora with voltages ranging form 3.5v to 16v DC and allow battery chemistry of LiIon/LiPoly, LiFe, alkaline or rechargeable NiMh/NiCad batteries. No worry about polarity of the battery, the Flora will not give up on you when accidentally the battery is connected in the wrong way. A integrated schottky diode will protect the electronic.

The Flora platform will be expanded with additional modules such as Bluetooth, GPS, 3-axis accelerometer, compass module, flex sensor, piezo, IR LED, push button, embroidered + capacitive keypad, OLED and more to be added in future.

This new wearable electronics platform will open – or should I say unleash – a new wave of wearable tech creativity, providing beginners and professional alike a powerful tool to make, hack and design the fashion of the future.

I will certainly keep you posted on the progress and release of the Flora platform.

Read more details about Flora at Adafruit Industries

Researcher at the Ohio State University focus on antenna integration into clothing using plastic film and metallic thread. The potential benefit of doing so is the increase of four times of the antenna range compared to a conventional antenna.

Currently the textile antenna research is targeted towards smart fabrics for the army enhancing the ‘communication reliability and mobility of the soldiers’ according to Chi-Chih Chen, research associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at Ohio State.

Embedding antennae into clothing is not a new concept but this particular research project adds a smart antenna twist to fabric antennae which are either printed or embroidered all over the clothing forming a antenna network which is controlled by a CPU. It is the same principle as the huge radio antennas that listen to space: instead of building one massive antenna, researcher build multiple smaller antenna and connect them to a network of antennas that represent a powerful, gigantic antenna.

Transferred to the human body means multiple antenna patches around the clothing form a much more powerful antenna when networked together because this antenna configuration will ensure under almost any situation at least one antenna element will always point into the signal direction.

What works for military purpose will have great value in other areas such as healthcare or monitoring of elderly people, staying connected during fitness activities to record workout or to give some extra boost to the iPhone antenna to eliminate call drop in otherwise radio silent side alleys.

The fabrication of the antenna elements look very simple, like printing of antenna pattern with conductive ink or using a embroidery machine as the research team has done for the prototype fabrication.

One dark spot has this smart, wearable antenna – the estimated cost right now is about U$ 200.- which naturally will limit the use for civilian application but there is a great likeliness these cost will come down considerably once volume production will start.

Read more about this at OSU Research News

The use of Smart Fabrics for fashion is still in a very early stage with many uncertainties when and how Smart Fabrics will become another fabric selection option to fashion designer.

While the apparel industry is feverishly searching for the ‘killer application’ another at first sight unlikely business seems to have more innovative vision how Smart Fabrics can spice up and enrich in a sensible way their product range.

The car industry and in particular one of the innovators in this industry, German based BMW is very serious to replace the textile surfaces that make a car interior so comfy with Smart Fabrics that sense the car occupants, that serve as interaction point with the car and will accept our swiping gestures we use like it is part of our DNA to swipe our way through life.

BMW picked up the idea to use Smart Fabrics based on the work of researchers at the Polytechnic School in Montreal, Canada, who developed a soft, polymer-based fiber which can be woven into fabric adding electrical properties to the fibers that change depending on where it is touched.

According to researcher Maksim Skorobogatiy a piece of Smart Fabrics has been woven to prove the technology. Finger touches or swipes modify the capacitance of the fibers in the fabric. Apparently fabrics containing this sensing fiber can be easily cleaned – a must have for any car interior material.

During last years Geneva Motor Show BMW presented a concept car with smart surfaces giving a hint in which direction the future of car interaction will go. Less than a year later BMW found what they have been looking for and it might be just another 1-2 years before Smart Fabrics upgrade our car interior design and functionality.

Does that mean cars will be the killer application of smart fabrics? This could be the case in my opinion. The car industry is more aggressive and active when it comes to innovation. Research and development budgets in the car industry are substantially higher compared to the textile and clothing industry.

People working on soft technologies might what to check out opportunities the car industry can offer. Other areas of smart fabrics car designer have great interest is sensing fabrics (to monitor the fitness of the driver for example) and textile illumination to create a pleasant atmosphere inside the car.

[via NewScientist]

PS: sorry for having been silent for a long time, got too many distraction around me. One of my personal challenges for 2012: update talk2myShirt on a more regular basis compared with the past few month. Stay tuned and thank you for checking out this place.

Just a few hours after our posting about a mysterious video clip showing the Nike MAG in what looked like a testing room, the secret is officially unveiled.

It turns out Nike produced 1500 pairs of this futuristic shoe and will auctioning off all of them on eBay (nikemag.eBay.com) starting on Thursday Sept 8th at 8:30pm 150 pairs will be posted per day until Sept 18th

Nike will donate the net proceeds of the Nike MAG auction to The Michael J. Fox Foundation which aims to eradicate Parkinson’s disease. Michael J. Fox who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 1991, played the ‘Back to the Future’ character Marty McFly wearing in one episode the now famous MAG shoes with Nike branding on it.

The Nike MAG 2011 edition features a EL (ElectroLuminescent) Nike logo on the strap and LED elements at the heel and sole part. The light effect can be activated with a squeeze of the ‘ear’ on the high top and will glow for five hours per charge.

Looks like the future of footwear is not quite here yet as the Nike MAG is not made for the masses around the globe but only for a select few that manage to win one of the auctions.

[source: NiceKicks]

The future finally arrived – at least for the much talked about Nike sneakers Marty McFly in the cult movie ‘Back to the Future Part II‘ had on his feet.

Since that movie has been released countless innovators and hackers attempted to bring these shoes back from the future.

According to a viral video showing lines after lines of illuminated, Nike Swoosh carrying MAG sneakers in what seems like a testing room at a factory, Nike themselves worked on the future of footwear, bringing the MAG sneakers back from the future and into footwear stores nearby.

Nike, presumably working on a top secret, wearable technology shoe project for some time would redefine the future of footwear if the MAG shoe hits the pavements of cities around the globe.

There is much speculation at this point about the authenticity of the video and no other information pointing towards the availability of a MAG shoe but hey – todays technology world is partly defined by speculation and rumors.

If Nike, a top brand in the sneaker business, indeed launches the MAG Fly sneaker it would be the greatest shoe wear (r)evolution in recent history. Launching the MAG  shoe for the consumer market would place Nike on the top of footwear innovation and give a big boost towards a wearable technology enriched fashion future.

[via: Adafruit.com]

Researcher at the Australian National University developed what seems a new generation of thin, flexible solar panels called SLIVER Cell.

The SLIVER cells are not thicker than a sheet of paper of human hair, making them extremely light weight and flexible. For me the most interesting development is the ‘bifacial’ design meaning these wearable solar panels re able to catch and convert sun light on both sides of the sheet.

Potentially this means greater degree of energy efficiency when used in conjunction with wearable objects which move, bend and change shape with the body movement.

According to the project’s Chief Investigator Professor Andrew Blakers ‘SLIVER cells have enabled the construction of efficient, rugged, flexible and light weight portable modules that convert light directly into electricity under a wide range of environmental conditions.’

The SLIVER cell wearable solar panel project was mainly funded by the Department of Defense – hence the demonstration of wearable solar panels and their potential usefulness for soldiers. Even if it turns out the SLIVER cell technology is not up to the rough conditions in a battle field, for the street worrier it will be a great battery relief for the gadgets in the pocket.

[source: ANU]

A while ago RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tagging of apparel has been a literally hot item which soon cooled down rapidly.

RFID tagging of apparel using woven or embroidered RFID antenna typically on labels of apparel would allow a wireless logistic control from production floor to inventory control at the shops.

The potential risk of seamless (= hidden) integration of RFID label into our clothing could come from the dark forces using it to track every movement of every smart clothing wearer across the world – at least in theory. This reason set a huge roadblock to a FRID enabled apparel future.

It’s a little sad that such – theoretical – misuse of an otherwise useful function is stopping development at an early stage. I am using a knife to cut my steak on the plate but – theoretically – I could kill someone with that knife as well. I guess you get the point.

How cool the use of RFID tagging for apparel could be is demonstrated by Gomus, a Brazilian Sound Branding agency which links the clothing purchase experience with music experience inside a fitting room.

The RFID tagged apparel once brought into the fitting room will activate an associated background music depending on the apparels nature and style.

Yeah, this is not ricochet scion from technology point of view but a very cool concept, much better than to have the monotone, standard sound servings in most shops.

Maybe using FRID enhanced clothing could be used to open doors for me, to get the barrister get’s started preparing my regular coffee refill as soon as I enter to coffee shop. Oh there would be lot’s of nice little conveniences attached to a simple RFID enabled, branded T-Shirt from hospitality to entertainment business.

Maybe RFID tagging in apparel is not such a evil idea after all.

[via: PSFK]

The growing number of Global Citizen, people who’s place of residents and interest is spread all over the globe face the problem of how to stay connected, to stay in touch with their family.

Traveling around is cool but can be also cold at times when not being able to get the all important personal touch from love ones.

The Hug-Shirt was one of the first wearable technology based designs that explored the possibilities of exchanging a personal touch over long distances. Following designs used a pillow showing another from factor to exchange intimidate, hugging and caring messages around the globe.

A unique design variant with huge potential, technically and commercially, for a long-distant cuddle concept using soft technology has been created by a team of students at the University of Venice, Alberto Elizondo, Francesca Pizzutilo and Roberto Picerno created the ‘Lullaby‘, a quilt equipped with illuminated patches and wireless communication.

How it works: Gestures and touches on one quilt will be transmitted and reproduced on the other quilt which basically could be anywhere around the globe, using the internet and WiFi as link between the two quilts. I can imagine an App for smartphones acting as access point for the Lullaby quilts to establish a 2-way communication.

There is nothing in this world that can replace a stroke down the back or a hug but when this is not an option, long-distance intimacy via Lullaby and similar design concepts should become reality – a growing number of global citizen would love to have them.

The Pulse Sensor is a plug-and-play ready component that hooks up to the Arduino platform which opens a ton of possibilities to incorporate biometric data into wearable electronic designs thanks to it’s very small form factor.

The creator of the Pulse Sensor, Joel Murphy and Yury Gitman, set up a Kickstarter account to get the necessary funding and move that great idea from  prototype stage into mass produced, open source reality.

The Pulse Sensor works similar to a optical heart-rate pulse sensor, picking up the blood flow rate, preferable on a ear lobe or finger tip, via photodiode. It is not intended to be of medical grade accuracy but still – it gives highly reliable values according the the duo’s own testing.

With just 1/2 inch in diameter (about 12mm), looking like a piece of jewelry and having two holes to sew the button shaped Pulse Sensor to fabric, this little bugger is inviting itself for an easy integration into wearable tech designs that react and act in sync with the heart beat of the wearer.

You can find all the details about the Pulse Sensor on Kickstarter and on The Pulse Sensor home page. If you want to be one of the first to get your hands on the Pulse Sensor – you can still pledge your contribution to the already well funded project until Sept 7 and get the Pulse Sensor Kit including Software & Source Code, PDF User-Guide, and a “Special Thanks” on PulseSensor.com

[via: GizmoWatch]