Ready-to-wear innovation

Intelligent fabrics are no longer a scoop today, but clothes that analyse, advise, coach or simply change appearance according to the light, we are in the midst of a transformation in ready-to-wear. 

Engineers and designers compete with each other in ingenuity to make our daily lives easier for years to come or in extreme situations. Here is a series of clothing prototypes, some of which are already in production.

 

- The anti-injury T-shirt: compression tee-shirt equipped with sensors that monitor the state of the joints of professional baseball players in real time. It is a group of students from the Northeastern University in Boston, who started from the observation that, with the help of fatigue, players very frequently suffer elbow injuries or tendonitis, causing tens of millions of dollars in losses for clubs every year. This T-shirt therefore makes it possible to record and transmit the player's activity and the state of his ligaments without hindering him. 

- Collection of "air-conditioned" clothing and accessories: they allow you to warm up or cool down and some have even been tested by the Indian army. Proposed by the Indian company Dhama Innovationsthis range Climaware includes sports jackets, shoes, helmets and ties.

 

- Variable intensity nudity: "Mixing bodies and technology". This is the objective of the Studio Roosegaarde with its concept Intimacy. These garments, made of leather and opaque sheets, are equipped with a chip and can become more or less transparent, on demand, depending on the electrical current applied to them.

- Integrated coach: it's the company Electricfoxy was behind MoveThis concept of sportswear equipped with multiple electronic sensors acts as a personal "coach" by analysing movements and position in order to provide advice and adjustments in real time. Still in the test phase, Move is linked to a very complete application (for iPhone or iPad) that also allows you to record and monitor your progress during work sessions. 

- Anti-pollution clothing: what can an art and design teacher talk about when she meets a chemistry teacher (Helen Storey and Tony Ryan) ? From catalytic clothing of course! The result: experiments halfway between fashion and science aimed at developing clothing capable of capturing and filtering ambient pollution.

- The T-Shirt that monitors your heart: born from the collaboration between Zephyr, a company specializing in medical monitoring and the manufacturer of sportswear. Under Armourmodel, the E39 is a compression T-Shirt equipped with sensors and a mini "on-board computer" allowing to measure in real time heart rate, speed, power and breathing rate, among others, and to transmit them wirelessly to a control device (PC, tablet, Smartphone ...). 

- Interactive dresses : Playtime is an interactive project of Ying GaoHe is a fashion designer and professor at UQUAM (Université de Québec à Montréal). Inspired by the film of the same name by director Jacques Tati, Playtime invites the public to reflect on the appearance and perception of objects in urban space. These two dresses, composed of organza and electronic components, are integrated into a kind of performance parade where the clothes interact with their environment. One of them is able to "react" to photographic flashes, thanks to its sensors, giving the impression of becoming undulating and blurred. The second incorporates a multitude of light-sensitive cells that make it really light up when it is also exposed to flashes.

- Bullet-proof and air-conditioned vest: it is a system integrated into the vest and called Coolpad which combines a small fan with a water tank that evaporates through a membrane. An innovation of theEMPAThe Swiss Institute for Materials Science and Technology, a Swiss interdisciplinary research institute specialising in materials science and related technological developments.

 

   

- Talking glove: Glove One is both a functional mobile phone and ... a "useless and fragile" artistic concept supposed to make us think about the sacrifices we are willing to make to integrate new technologies, according to the artist and designer. Brian Cera. It is a kind of glove, made with the help of a 3D printer, equipped with tactile buttons on the tip of each finger and a microphone speaker set on the thumb and the little finger. The artist has even prepared a complete practical guide that allows you to make your own Glove One.

- Communicating glove: the Mobile Lorm Glove is a glove that allows deafblind people to compose and send messages (text messages and e-mails) and to "feel" those they receive. The system, which takes advantage of theLorm's alphabet, consists of a small pocket-sized receiver that transmits outgoing and incoming messages via Bluetooth to a set of small vibrators placed on the glove.

- iPad jacket or iPhone jeans? No particular technology in this jacket proposed by Alphyn Industries Inc.. but a little trick that will delight iPad fans. The PADX-1 LEDGE has indeed a kangaroo pocket specially designed to use and protect the Apple touchpad under any circumstances (about 165 euros). 

 

 

- Move your body: CuteCircuit, a London-based fashion company and self-proclaimed pioneer in the field of "wearable technologies" hit the ground running in 2009 with the Galaxy Dressa dress adorned with approximately 24,000 LEDs. The 2012 collection goes one step further with a range of ready-to-wear models (t-shirts, dresses, leggings ...), still equipped with LEDs, but this time reacting to movement. The garments are equipped with a small battery that recharges on the USB port of a computer. The electronic components are very thin: they allow the design of clothes close to the body, a flexibility of the fabric.

(Source: Bruno Mathieu / tomsguide.fr - August 2012)

{Jacuzzi on}