A collection of garments that illuminate and change color in an instant

A lot of designers have been exploring the idea of garments that can illuminate and change color in an instant based on mood, movement and environmental factors. There are still no practical display solutions for wearable technology aside from some attempts at flexible displays, some clever applications of smart inks and Philip's investment in flexible light fabrics. But this hasn't stopped designers from exploring the possibilities. Here is a collection of projects that change color by covering the surface of the garment with LEDs. Cutecircuit Galaxy Dress Cutecircuit's Galaxy Dress may not be wearable, but it certainly is an engineering achievement. Covered in 10's of thousands of LEDs, this dress subtly shifts color and creates a gorgeous pattern of light across the entire surface. I can't help but wonder how heavy it is and how warm it gets while all the lights are on. Regardless, it's a good exploration about the possibilities.

Hussein Chalayan video dress Similar to the Galaxy Dress, Hussein Chalayan's video dress is made up of thousands of LEDs that cover the surface. He added an outer layer of fabric that defuses the light, which smoothes and softens the effect.

Philips Design Probes: Skin Dress One of Philips Design Probes labeled "Skin" examines the future integration of sensitive materials in the area of emotional sensing. This exploration covers a garment in soft deffused LEDs to illustrate how emotive technology can use pattern and color change to interact and predict the emotional state of the wearer.

A bridal application With all of this illuminated fabrics exploration, we are beginning to see attempts to bring the concepts into real world applications. Brittany Beltz integrated hundreds of LEDs into her wedding gown and surprised the audience by illuminating the garment during her first dance with her new husband.

Katy Perry's Glowing Met Costume Gala Gown (Shown in the above photo) We are also finding illuminated garments find their way into the entertainment and music industry. While attending a red carpet event for the Met Costume Gala, Katie Perry wrapped herself in an illuminated gown created by Cutecircuit. The gown included LED lights that were controlled by a switch that was hidden inside Perry's bra. Read more about this garment at ecouterre.com.

All of these solutions will have non-trivial challenges such as power and heat. Although these explorations are gorgeous, I am still waiting to see a practical application.

Top image from ecouterre.

3 Days of Smart Fabric Conference madness in Miami

I attended the Smart Fabric Conference in Miami this week and there was a lot of terrific discussion about the current state of eTextiles, trends and innovations happening with eTextiles and wearable technology, the opportunities and challenges of commercialization, and questions around what's next. The conference was a 3-day jammed packed extravaganza that included keynote speakers Stacey Burr, CEO Textronics and VP adidas, along with Dr. Liesbeth van Pieterson, project leader of the photonic textile project at Philips Research. Some of the trends and opportunity areas that were discussed throughout the 3 days included:

• The "Urban adventurer" - people who live an urban lifestyle are also seeking outdoor adventure so they can have their own adventure in the city. How do we create products for the outdoor adventurer that keeps them close to their urban lifestyle.
• Happiness and meaning - over 9 Billion euros was spent in Europe last year on helping people find life meaning.
• Personalized concepts for health - how do I prevent illness and how can a healthy lifestyle be integrated into my entire life.
• Green and sustainability - is a very fast growing industry. What are products that can help support the environment?
• Travel - people are traveling more, working remotely more, and on the go. How can we create products that help people stay connected, be productive, have fun, and provide a sense of home.
• Cross-integration - how can many different forms of materials, manufacturing techniques, textiles, etc... be integrated into one product and manufacturing lifecycle
• Cross-innovation - how can many (and somewhat disparate) industries and disciplines work together toward innovative and holistic solutions?
• DIY (Do-It-Yourself) - is making electronics and wearable technology accessible to a broader audience and opening up consumers to the possibility and acceptance of wearable technology solutions.

People in this field from all over the world (see the list of speakers here) discussed these opportunities and the challenges that this emerging field faces, including:

• Commercialization - there was a large focus on the topic of commercialization and how to bring new eTextiles and products to the market. There are still a significant amount of manufacturing hurdles to get over since this type of technology requires a new look at the infrastructure and techniques of manufacturing
• Market potential - who will want wearable technology solutions? What are the market opportunities? What kind of brands and companies are investing in these types of solutions?
• Market acceptance - will people accept wearable technology? Are they worried about safety? Can they use it?
• The right solution - what is the right combination of materials, manufacturing, marketing, consumer understanding and need, design, etc...

In between discussions everyone from Despina Papadoloulos of Studio 5050, to fashion designer Angel Chang, to Kenneth Klopp of Ardica Technologies talked about opportunities, challenges and shared what they are working on.

To read more on the Smart Fabric conference, go to the site here.

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The photo is from the eStatic Shadows project done by Jackson Tan (who spoke at the conference) and Professor Zane Bersina. The project is a soft fabric that has thousands of integrated LEDs and electrostatic antennas made of woven conductive thread. This gorgeous eTextile reacts to your electrostatic energy by turning the leds off when you are near. The result is a beautiful and soft shadow that animates to your movement. I just want to wrap myself up in this!

Technologies that are transforming sports

[gallery] The sports field is constantly innovating in wearable technology and it is one of the many fields that I absolutely love. The possibilities to aid athletes and optimize performance are endless. "Athletes capitalize on advances from engineering, material science, biomechanics, communication and information technologies to maximize training and performance. ...Technologies are transforming every aspect of sport, including coaching, judging, even the design of sports arenas and spectator experience." (source)

Here are a few of the technologies that are either in use today or that are being explored for future applications (from left photo to right):

Wearable computers - are clothes that are embedded with electronics that monitor the athletes heart rate, breathing pattern, temperature, hydration and more.

Ingestible computers - such as thermometer pills wirelessly transmits body temperature.

Tool-less manufacturing - analyzes body geometry and allows direct digital manufacturing rather than molded dies for a true custom fit.

Biomimetics - borrowing techniques from nature to enhance performance such as the finely divided setae found on gecko's toes allowing the animal to stick to anything, even glass.

Carbon nanotechnology - artificial muscles made of carbon nanotubes that contract at faster speeds than human muscles allowing the wearer to adopt super human strength.

Computational fluid dynamics - using 3D body scanners, engineers can analyze skin friction and create body suites that optimize performance in air and water.

Reactive materials - protecting athletes from risky sports, materials with nanoparticles become instantly rigid as soon as kinetic energy is applied.

Continue reading on Discovery Tech. Images from Discovery Tech.

A Fairytale Fashion Collection Debuts at Eyebeam NYC

[gallery]Fashion technologist Diana Eng of fairytalefashion.org showcases her debut technology-infused fashion collection at Eyebeam NYC. Here's how she describes the collection:

The Fairytale Fashion Collection uses technology to create magical clothing in real life. Electronics, mechanical engineering, and mathematics are used to create clothing with blooming flowers, changing colors and transforming shapes. Research and development for the Fairytale Fashion collection are shared online at FairytaleFashion.org as an educational tool that teaches about science, math, and technology through fashion. Fairytale Fashion was created with the support of Eyebeam Art and Technology Center, the leading not-for-profit art and technology center in the United States. Continue reading on Flickr.

Photos from flickr feature the following projects:

Twinkle Dress and Twinkle Caridgan LED circuits are hand embroidered with silverized thread and a custom sewable circuit board Twinkle Pad, developed specially for the Fairytale Fashion Collection. Twinkle Dress's removable grey silk chiffon twinkle pad circuit overlays washable black cotton American Apparel dreww. Twinkle Cardigan's removable black wool melton shoulder patches overlay a cotton sweater.

Twinkle Skirt LED circuits are hand embroidered with silverized thread and a custom sewable circuit board Twinkle Pad, developed specially for the Fairytale Fashion Collection.

Puff Sleeve Jacket Lavender cotton canvas jacket with deployable structure pleated sleeves.

Inflatable Dress Cream silk chiffon, draped over plastic inflatables and white silk flowers.

More on Diana Eng.

Exploring the potential of electro-active polymers

University of the Arts PhD Student Aurélie Mossé is exploring the potential of electro-active polymers. "Pursuing my journey through energy-harvesting and self-actuated textiles, I am currently exploring the potential of electro-active polymers in the design of responsive textiles, in collaboration with Dr Guggi Kofod from the University of Potsdam, Germany, Departement of Applied Condensed Matter Physics. Electro-active polymers are plastics changing shape when electricity pass through it. Here you can see some first experiments with basic geometries, where the polymer is stretching when electricity is applied." Continue reading on Textile Future Research.

Image from Textile Future Research

Even couch potatoes can generate power

One of the many major challenges of mobile systems such as wearables, is the power source. Scientists and engineers are constantly figuring out smaller, more efficient, cheaper and more powerful ways to power our devices. One area of investigation is around the power that is generated from our own body movements. According to Henry Fountain of the New York Times, it doesn't take much, even a couch potato can generate power. For example, the act of breathing can generate about a watt of power. The challenge is how to harvest that engery and put it to good use.

"Michael C. McAlpine of Princeton and colleagues have developed a promising approach for converting body movements into electricity: printing piezoelectric crystals onto flexible, biocompatible rubberlike material. Continue reading on The New York Times.

I would love to get my hands on one of these!

Photo by Frank Wojciechowski.