A color-changing collection

[gallery] Fashion designers are continuing to explore garments printed with color changing inks. The latest is Rainbow Winters Spring Summer Collection 2011 featuring garments that are printed with special thermochromic and hydrochromic ink, which change color when exposed to sunlight or water.

"The signature piece of her collection is the Rainforest Dress - a dress that changes colour when exposed to water and/or sun. Sunlight activated flowers on the dress turn purple, when activated though water, the whole dress, the bodice and flowers transform into full colour. Her Petal Dress changes the color when exposed to sun, indoors it is green or pink, outdoors it begins to turn blue or purple."

Continue reading on InfraBodies Images from InfraBodies

Exploring the relation between technology and intimacy

[gallery] The Intimacy series is a project by Daan Roosegaarde, Maartje Dijkstra, Anouk Wipprecht, V2_ Lab (Simon de Bakker, Stan Wannet, Piem Wirtz) and the team of Studio Roosegaarde (Peter de Man, João Carneiro). It consists of a growing number of gorgeous and evocative projects that investigate the relationship between technology and intimacy while considering the worlds of fashion, wearable technology and the electronic arts. The projects have already achieved international exposure and are often showcased in events and museums, helping to feed the ongoing dialogue about our contemporary technology-driven society.

The first of the series, designed by fashion designer Maartje Dijkstra titled Intimacy White, is made out of white e-foil that turns transparent to reveal the body based on your interactions with it (such as your proximity to the wearer).

The second dress, designed by fashion designer Anouk Wipprecht titled Intimacy Black, uses a newer version of the e-foil that transforms from black to transparent.

"The project[s] consist of high-tech garments made with wireless, interactive technologies and smart foils, which can become transparent. The distance towards the garments determines their level of transparency, creating an intimate experience and a sensual play of disclosure." continue reading on V2_Lab.

Images from V2_Lab.

adidas produces glow-in-the-dark gear

[gallery] I'm a big fan of smart fabrics and intelligent clothing making it to market, which is another chance to introduce these types of concepts to consumers. Before you know it, they will be widely accepted, but we still have a ways to go. The new line of adidas' Stella McCartney glow-in-the-dark clothing does just that. It's functional by keeping you safe while running in the dark AND it is beautifully executed. We need more wearable technology garments that strike that perfect balance between functionality and aesthetics so that people want to wear them. I can't wait until my order arrives!

More info on adidas.com Images from therockerblog

Woven electronics for commercialization

[gallery] "Researchers have been experimenting with “intelligent” textiles for quite some time by integrating standard electronic components. However, for the most part the electronic parts have only been attached to or sewn into plain old clothes like coats or T-shirts – an endeavor ultimately doomed to fail because of one practical drawback: they’re difficult to wash. Moreover, it takes a lot of handiwork to produce them, which bumps up the price of the clothes.

Scientists from Professor Gerhard Tröster’s Wearable Computing Lab, however, have now gone one step further: they’ve developed a new technology to attach thin-film electronics and miniaturized, commercially available chips to plastic fibers. The researchers eventually succeeded in integrating a large number of microchips and other microelectronic elements directly into the architecture of the material. In order to weave the E-fibers into conventional threads, the ETH-Zurich scientists used customary textile machines." Continue reading on ETH Zurich.

Images from ETH Zurich via talk2myshirt.com

Wearable technology exhibit now through July 9

If anyone is close to Atlanta, it's worth stopping by to check out this wearable technology exhibit curated by Clint Zeagler and Thad Starner at the Museum of Design Atlanta entitled ON YOU 2. The exhibit "looks specifically at conductive thread embroidered and fabric manipulation interfaces. Garments design by Clint Zeagler and Tiffany Teague will be on display along side garments designed by students showcasing Clint Zeagler and Thad Starner's Georgia Tech research in wearable technology." continue reading at museumofdesign.org.

One of the projects developed at the GVU Center at Georgia Tech is this pleat interface made of embroidered conductive thread that senses which way the user strokes them. They state that the pleated interface can be used to control the volume on an MP3 player, select names from a phonebook, scroll a website, etc.

If anyone is able to make it to this exhibit, please send photos!

Even more light-up clothing

[gallery] However long it's been around in the wearable tech field, there seems to have been an explosion of light-up clothing in the news these days (read an earlier post about this topic). Now, I'm still not convinced that illuminating clothing is the best use of wearable technology, but it's tough to ignore all of the hype form celebreties performing and walking down the red carpet in illuminating clothing to DIY hackers creating Light Bright LED garments.

Here's some of the hype:

• According to talk2myshirt.com, there's a trend in light-up clothing including the Light Bright LED vest created by Erik Johnson that includes a total of 1,536 three color (RGB) LEDs
• Recently, Cute Circuit has created a variety of celebrity dresses including a design for Francesca Rosella and a light-up dress for singer Katy Perry for an event that she attended at The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Met Costume Institute Gala
• Rihanna and Moritz Waldemeyer lit up the stage with an LED dress for her ‘Last Girl On Earth tour‘
• Fashion designer Zaldy created outfits for the likes of Gwen Stefani, Britney Spears or Jennifer Lopez designed for Michael Jackson’s ‘This is It tour’ his complete stage outfit including a illuminated Tuxedo for the ‘Billie Jean’ performance.

I'm still waiting for that killer light-up app that brings meaning to the functionality. Perhaps it will come from the $15 million 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‘. According to talk2myshirt "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." I hope to see some real innovation come out of this research.

An actually cool light-up solution is a stage costume made and designed by Wei-Chieh Shih. According to fashioningtech, "the nylon suit is embedded with 200 laser diodes, transforming the performer into a mobile light show."

Now we're getting somewhere...

Images from talk2myshirt.com and fashioningtech.com.