Smart Textiles Conference Report

This yearʼs IntertechPira Smart Fabrics Conference, now in
its 7th year, was held at Londonʼs Hotel Russell. The
conference brings together professionals from technology,
fashion, textiles, electronics and academia to discuss recent
advancements in technology and the future of smart fabrics.
Chaired by Stacey Burr, CEO of Textronics and Vice
President of Adidas Wearable Sports Electronics, the two-day
conference offered a varied line up of speakers including
technologists, artists, scientists, fashion designers and
electronic engineers.
The pre-conference seminar, “Fashion Phreaking”, offered a
hands-on warm-up held by Studio Nancy Tilbury. Tilbury,
who has a background in fashion design, studied at the Royal
College of Art before going on to work for Philips Design in
their wearable electronics department. Her studio currently
consults for Philips, Nicola Formichetti (stylist to Lady Gaga
and Thierry Mugler creative director), and the Wellcome
Trust, while also directing the MA Fashion course at Kingston
University.
Studio Nancy Tilbury aims to “reform the craft of fashion,” by
exploring how new technologies can become embedded in
our lifestyles through fashion. The seminar Tilbury presented
was based around the studioʼs “wink” technology denim
shorts, which light up when pressed by the wearer. The lightup technology was inspired by the gay sub-culture practice of
using differently colored bandanas to signal sexual
preferences as well as the increasingly immodest use of
social media among younger age groups.
The afternoon workshop saw participants making small
electronic circuits using copper threads and LED lights
stitched to denim. When powered by a small battery and
gently touched, the lights lit up, making for a small-scale
exploration of how wearable electronics could impact our
lives in future.
Fashion designer Anke Loh began Wednesdayʼs conference
schedule with an inspiring retrospective look at her work over
the last decade. Lohʼs designs focus on interactive fashion,
both personal and environmental. She also explores the
integration of technology and fabric, such as light and heat
sensitive inks and fabrics as well as optical fibers that emit
light.
In 2006, Loh worked with Lumalive technology provided by
Philips. Lumalive is a system of embedding LEDʼs
seamlessly and invisibly into fibers with batteries or
electronics. The resulting garment was a simple vest
featuring Lohʼs video of a face, which had the appearance of
a projection on fabric. These highly integrated technologies
embedded into fabric pave the way for future screen-less
interactions with technology.
Akseli Roh, CEO of Clothing+, presented an inspiring talk
about the very real applications of new sensor textile
technologies for the sports and medical industries. Using
manufacturing techniques such as laser cutting, ultrasonic
welding and lamination, Clothing+ has been able to
implement comfortable sensor systems that are both invisible
and reliable.
Sensors are able to measure heart rate, movements such as
stretching or bending, and to monitor sound. The implications
of such sensors for the medical industry are twofold: patients
can keep track and motivate themselves on a daily basis,
and doctors can remotely monitor their patients daily, as well
as download information at monthly check ups. Widespread
possibilities for sensor insertions include vests, bed sheets,
carpets, plasters, bandages, shoes and hats among many
others, making this technology a very real proposition for
todayʼs increasingly health conscious marketplace.
Dr. Jan Zimmerman, the new Head of Technical Textiles at
Forster Rohner, is charged with the daunting task of
introducing new technologies to a Swiss embroidery
company with over 100 years of history. Pressures on prices
in the fashion industry are high, and the Swiss company is
now looking to innovate beyond its beautiful fabric range to
smart technology as a way of securing a future in the
industry.
One of the main breakthroughs for Janʼs team was the 2009
Climate Dress made in collaboration with Copenhagen based
design studio Diffus, the Danish School of Design, and the
Danish research-based company Alexandra Institute. The
dress was embroidered with conductive soft thread, a CO2
sensor, Lilypad processor and over one hundred micro LED
lights, which reacted to the levels of CO2 in the surrounding
atmosphere.
The Climate Dressʼs sensor system taps into just one of
many health concerns over our surrounding atmosphere and
environment, leading the way for clever use of smart
technology beyond any aesthetic or social functions already
explored.
Catherine Rogan of Smart Garment People brought to light
the realities of fabric technologies needed by front-line
servicemen such as soldiers, police officers and firemen, all
of whom face entirely new challenges in the current climate.
From explosives and natural disaster search and rescue, to
chemical and biological threats, fabrics need to be lighter,
cooler, hydrophobic, flame retardant, and ergonomically
comfortable for long periods of time.
Her business is currently advising on the use of many new
technologies. Remote physiological monitoring is available to
monitor heat stress and the movements of soldiers, while
impact detectors are available in the form of color change
indicators, made possible by nano crystal research
developments. New research into bone conductive headsets
pose a real possibility for covert operations, where vibrations
conducted through the skull would ensure communications
that only the wearer would be able to hear.
Other developments include phase change materials which
store and release heat, auxetic yarns combining stretch yarns
inside non-stretch yarns, for protection against blasts, liquid
cooling systems and intelligent body mapping techniques to
cool the wearerʼs blood.
Jane McCannʼs “Design for Aging Well” project showed
another incredibly important outlet for smart fabrics — the
aging population. Her studies from the Royal College of Art
are now continuing with her role as Director of the Smart
Clothes and Wearable Technology Unit at the University of
Wales.
Her research has involved thoroughly investigating the needs
of the elderly and the lack of appropriately designed items
available. McCann established that on a daily basis the
elderly make use of quite a bit of technology, from carrying a
pedometer to using a mobile phone and camera, and that
there are specific design needs for this market apart from the
more obvious aesthetic and sizing issues.
Developments needed include padding for elbows and
knees, clothing that is easy to move around in, engineered
knits for intimate apparel, ease of fastenings, and thermal
regulation — all areas which have been thoroughly catered
for in active sports apparel yet are sadly lacking for the
elderly market.
Professor Robin Mueller closed the conference with a talk on
her extensive work with textiles and technology at the Nova
Scotia College of Art and Design, as part of the Centre for
Cultural Technology and Innovation. The Lab seeks to
“develop smart textiles for architectural applications” yet
hasother far-reaching innovations including textiles which
react to sound, movement, sunlight and touch.
A key project for the lab was the development of an LED
dress for the Maria Osende flamenco dance company. The
laser cut dress had smart LEDs hidden in the lining, with a
wrist activated accelerometer changing the lights depending
on vertical movement and speed of movement.
The warming hut, an interactive architectural space, has also
been a key project for the lab. Initially conceived as a
warming hut for skaters on Halifax Common, the hut employs
various technologies to warm and engage the user. Once
inside, the visitor is invited to sit on seats made from multiple
heated straps, and to place hands in warmed mittens.
Sensors inside the mittens capture the visitorʼs heartbeat and
transmits the audio pulse punctuated by soft flashing lights.
With considerable research grants for future endeavors, the
team continues to work towards merging traditional textile
manufacturing techniques.
The conference raised many concurring points made by
speakers throughout the three-day seminar. A key issue with
smart fabrics is how to make them more washable, more
wearable and more mass market, as currently key
developments from fashion designers and technologists are
one-off items. Coating and laminating technology seems at
an early stage and much work needs to be done to solve this
stumbling block.
Another key area of interest was the application of smart
fabrics for real problems such as front-line services, the
elderly, and the medical industries. In such contexts, future
developments of smart fabric will solve important problems
for our society.
Another main factor was the impact of the iPad and iPhone,
with touch screens igniting ideas for screen-less and
embedded technology imagined by films such as The Minority
Report. With fabrics being such a key part of our everyday
lives, from the moment we wake till we fall asleep, it seems
textiles are where the future lies for real integration of such
technologies.
www.smartfabricsconference.com
nancytilbury.blogspot.com
ankeloh.net
www.clothingplus.fi/
www.forsterrohner.ch/
www.diffus.dk/pollutiondress/intro.htm
www.smartgarmentpeople.com/
www.newdynamics.group.shef.ac.uk/design-for-ageing.html
www.filumltd.arch.dal.ca/