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

Sabine Seymour publishes a new book

I met with Sabine Seymour at the Smart Fabrics conference in Miami this year where she told me about a sequel to her highly acclaimed book 'Fashionable Technology' (Springer 2008) titled Functional Aesthetics. After the torturous wait for the book to be ready, it's finally available the end of this month! It will definitely be a requirement for every wearable technology designer's library. Pre-order it here. "Functional Aesthetics ... contains new state-of-the-art and revealing artistic and design examples focusing on the aesthetic and functional aspects. Chapters like Contextual Prerequisite, Body Sculpture, or Transparent Sustainability provide in-depth studies of often visionary projects seen as stimulation for new developments in the matured field of 'Fashionable Technology'. The book presents inspiring projects between the poles of fashion, design, technology, and sciences. It includes a list of relevant information on DIY resources, publications, inspirations, etc." continue reading.

Image from amazon.

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 for runners

[gallery]Continuing on the theme of wearable technology for runners, I was recently at the San Francisco marathon (no, I didn't run it, but supported a friend who did) and noticed that every runner was wearing a small bit of technology on their shoes. The technology is a flexible and disposable RFID tag by UPM Raflatac that you wrap around your shoe lace. A "reader" is placed at the start and finish line. When you cross either, the tag on your shoe is read by the reader at the exact moment you cross the lines. The accurate racing information is then sent to a database that keeps track of your start and finish time and calculates your pace.

Aesthetically, the technology is visible on the inside, which displays the RFID antenna in the shape of a dogbone (as they call it). The pattern and texture is actually quite beautiful. Next time I run a race, I'll be wearing one of these inside out.

Nikes tracks your marathon progress

[gallery] I've always been a fan of the combination of sports, technology and footwear. There is so much potential to integrate technology in meaningful and useful ways in sports gear. Designer Michael Robinson envisions doing just that with his concept titled Nike+ 26. It includes a series of 26 lights embedded in a pair of running shoes. After each mile you run during your marathon, a light turns on giving you ambient feedback on your progress.

NIKE78 - Michael Robinson | ‘NIKE+ 26′ from NIKE78 on Vimeo.

Continue reading on fastcompany.com. Images from fastcompany.com.

Turning wear into pattern

[gallery] "The ‘Decay’ project explores how traces of time and use can be embedded in textile. By wearing a carbon fibre suit over a white blouse, textile designer Marie Ilse Bourlanges captured the gestures of the body bending, stretching, scratching and rubbing. The transfer imprint on the blouse was then translated into a pattern of lines that ebb and flower across the textile." Continue on nextnature.

Images from nextnature.