An incredible wearable technology resource list

Digital media designer-artist, theorist and curator Valérie Lamontagne has an incredible wearable technology resources page that lists the who's who and who's upcoming in the wearable technology and eTextile field. She has even grouped designers and organizations into very interesting categories such as "Context as Prerequisite", "The Garment as Amplifier of Fantasy", and "Material Witness". For anyone interested in this field, this is definitely one for delicious. Thank you Valérie!

Visit her resource page.

CuteCircuit's wearable line-up

[gallery] London-based CuteCircuit has been leading the wearable technology field from the getgo. They have found success in many of their projects and research initiatives over the years including the hug shirt and Katy Perry light-up couture, to name a few. They are also one of the few wearable tech companies who are bringing their ideas to market! Here are some exciting new products that are now available to purchase:

Twirkle shirt and leggings The more you move the more it glows and sparkles and twinkles. It runs on basic coin cell batteries (included), and reacts to your movement. Everything about this shirt and leggings is magical and wonderful. A powder-keg of scintillating pixie-dust. Cost: £55.00-£125.00

Armour dress Digitally printed armour pattern on 100% silk jersey knit with hand-embroidered crystals. Comes in two colours, purple and green, which are both perfect for you. The Armour dress is designed to create a gorgeous body shape and it features soft heat bonded details. Cost: £125.00

Star scarf Digitally printed Star design on 100% silk twill. A wonderfully soft silk scarf completely hand hemmed. The star pattern comes in many delicious colors. Cost: £65.00

And coming soon...

The hug shirt The Hug Shirt™ is a shirt that makes people send hugs over distance! Sending hugs is as easy as sending an SMS and you will be able to send hugs while you are on the move, in the same way and to the same places you are able to make phone calls (Rome to Tokyo, New York to Paris).

The M-dress The M-Dress is an elegant silk jersey dress that is also a functional soft electronics mobile phone. The M-Dress accepts a standard SIM card and allows the wearer to receive and make calls without carrying a cellular phone in their pocket or purse. Simplicity is elegance.

For more info, visit CuteCircuit. Image source.

Electronics that can bend

Cambridge, Massachusetts advanced materials company, MC10, is cookin' up some amazing bendable high-performance electronics that us wearable technology folks would LOVE to get our dirty little hands on. Imagine a shirt that could monitor your heart rate without wires or clunky devices. Or garments that are flexible and move with your body as they collect your biometric data and help you live a healthier life. MC10 seems to be paving the way and rumor from the Twittersphere is that adidas is currently working with them on ... does anyone know? The future is promising.

Image source.

Controlling your devices with your mind

[gallery] Emotiv has created a wearable headset designed by 4design Pty Ltd called emotiv EPOC that allows you to control your gaming experience through your thoughts. It takes signals directly from the wearer's brain to interface wirelessly with games and computers in totally new ways. It even understands facial expressions and moods. I'm not sure if this is an incredibly exciting innovation or something to be somewhat frightened about. The headset design is somewhat intimidating looking, but I would still like to get my hands on it to give it a test run.

More info. Image source.

Events, events, events!

There are a lot of wearable technology events happening now through the next few months. Here's the growing line-up to keep your eyes on: (above image from FashionWare SXSW)

TransNatural - March 4-April 1, 2011 - Amsterdam TransNatural shows interesting attempts from art, design and science to fuse technology with nature. More info.

FashionWare - March 18-19 - Austin, Texas Syuzi Pakhchyan of Fashioning Tech is curating a show at #sxsw's new fashion component in Austin, TX. Stop by her booth if you're in the Austin area. More info.

Soft Circuit Weekend - April 2-3 2011 - San Francisco, California Led by Instructor Lara Grant at The Gray Area Foundation for the Arts will start with the history of wearable technology and end with a hands-on workshop. More info via talk2myshirt.

Smart Fabrics Conference - April 4-6, 2011 - London, UK The 7th annual Smart Fabrics 2011 will take place on 4-6 April 2011 at the Hotel Russell in London, UK and will cover topics such as the current status of innovative smart fabric technologies in the marketplace, as well as recent application breakthroughs and adoption. More info.

Intelligent Textiles Workshop - April 2011 - Ghent, Belgium Just before the Smart Textiles Salon, theUniversity of Ghent in cooperation with Plug and Wear and Systex organize a two part, three day workshop on Intelligent Textiles. More info via talk2myshirt.

Smart Textile Salon - April 18-21 2011 - Ghent, Belgium Besides informing people about intelligent textiles on a theoretical level, this workshop emphasis the practical application of the knowledge – from theory to application in real prototypes. More info.

Popkalab Wearable Technology Workshop - April 27th to 29th - Sede Tecnológica de la UNIA, Málaga/Spain In this 3 days workshop participants will be introduced to wearable technology, special flexible and conductive material (conductive fabrics, threads, yarns and other soft and squishy materials), basic electronics and will develop a wearable project using the learned techniques. More info.

Pretty Smart Textiles (PDF) - May 2-3, 6-8, 16, 19 2011 - Herning, Denmark The Exhibition Pretty Smart Textiles shows how fashion, art and technology elegantly work together to become smart textiles. More info (PDF).

Pretty Smart Textiles Workshop (PDF) - May 4 2011 - Herning, Denmark In the textile industry of the future, innovation, technology and development are key words. Students will get a unique hands-on chance to learn about future textiles and the technologies behind. More info (PDF).

DMY International Design Festival - June 1-5, 2011 - Berlin DMY Berlin is an international design network for contemporary product design. At the yearly DMY International Design Festival Berlin both renowned and young, experimental designers launch new products, prototypes and foresighted projects. More info.

ISWC 2011 - June 12-15, 2011 - San Francisco, California The fifteenth annual IEEE International Symposium on Wearable Computers, is the premier forum for wearable computing and issues related to on-body and worn mobile technologies. More info.

Data Gathering Workout Shirt for the NFL

[gallery] One of the big opportunities in wearable technology is in professional sports where precision and performance can be tracked and improved. Under Armour has created a new line of evaluation and improvement garments. Their E39 garments track heart rate, breathing rate, g-force and body positioning. The "electronic compression baselayer" (as they describe) collects your biometric data and sends it to a computer or handheld so that you can evaluate your performance and ultimately improve it. According to Gizmodo, Under Armour will be testing these garments with 10 to 30 NFL prospects, including Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Cam Newton. I wouldn't mind trying one out myself.

Image and more info on Yahoo! sports.