The integration of electronics, new technologies and fashion signals the start of a new era in the clothing and textile industry, in which visions are giving way to prod- ucts now ready for the market. In the future (not forgetting that ‘future’ is a factor of uncertainty) electronic equipment will be part of clothing. A microphone will be hid- den in the collar and connected to a mini speech-recognition PC in the breast pocket. This PC will have a face recognition programme, and any new person in front of us will be transmitted to this via an integrated camera. On the mini display integrated into our glasses or a headset with screen (augmented reality), data and background information can be read to provide telling arguments in conferences, or the descrip- tion of functions. If things become stressful, our body-function control will report a dangerous overfunction of stress; a weight-watching system will warn against every superfluous mouthful at a business lunch. Not least, the energy-power shoes we are wearing will provide the necessary electricity in order to keep these apparatuses working. Is this a horror vision or a new, positive life quality?
The terms wearables, wearable computing, wearable technologies, smart clothes,
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objects integrated into clothing.58 Portables become wearables and clothing becomes a
user surface—in other words, an electronic interface.
The high-tech GEOX jacket of today is similar to the classical blouson. Conven- tional designs are combined with new technologies and high-tech materials. It is not so much their fashionable design or unusual form that attracts attention, but far more their innovative inner workings such as the integration of touch pads, Bluetooth, MP3 players, navigation systems and solar cells/photovoltaics to provide energy. Already existent high-tech textiles (smart textiles) are capable of conducting electricity. Manufacturers in the various fields are striving for intelligent clothing, from pure electronics producers like db electronics and mobile device providers like Sagem and Venzero to system integrators like Eleksen and Interactive Wear and clothing manufacturers like O’Neill, Bogner, Lodenfrey and Urban Tool. Different compa- nies in Germany (Interactive Wear) and worldwide (Philips, Xybernaut) are testing wearables. Wearables technology is presented at fairs like the Cebit in Hannover and Avantex in Frankfurt, and also at the sports equipment fair Ispo in Munich.
The declared aims of intelligent clothing are to maximise function and perfor- mance or—where appropriate—to offer functions largely independent of the user and his surroundings. An integrated navigation system should not require input of the user’s present location, but should ascertain this independently and then lead the user to his chosen destination, paying attention to weather conditions and per- sonal preferences. (If it rains, rain-protection gear on the bicycle is automatically activated.) In this way, a man-computer-clothing symbiosis develops and is able to offer hybrid realities. The start was made by pioneers like Steve Mann from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology: as early as the 1980s, Mann invented a shoe computer, and in the early 1990s a headset and NetCam for a wide range of augmented realities. These have been reduced in size since to the dimensions of sunglasses and to the WearCam. Wearable electronics are realised, tested and util- ised in the military field. Among other things, the companies Interactive Wear and GPSoverIP GmbH in Schweinfurt developed the Know Where Jacket for civilian serial production in 2006; a small series is produced by Loden Frey Service GmbH in Munich. As well as an MP3 player, headphones and microphone, a waterproof and shockproof sleeve keyboard and an emergency button, the Know Where Jacket includes the complete integrated electronics of a machine known as GPS-eye that detects and transmits position data specifically for the location of human beings. It not only facilitates the location of the jacket’s wearer with the precision of GPS, but—thanks to GPSoverIP—the wearer can also be located in real time, sometimes even inside buildings. The range of use for Know Where solutions is almost unlim- ited, ranging from sport and leisure time uses (e.g. mountain climbing, mountain biking, sailing) to work and protective clothing and finally security and medical technology.
One major field of use for intelligent clothing is represented by so-called Life Shirts for the supervision of the sick, precautionary health measures and fitness
surveillance. Sensors are integrated into the textiles of Life Shirts that continu- ally measure the vital functions such as pulse, blood pressure, blood sugar, heart rhythm and fat-burning rate and the pH value of the skin, and then signal cor- responding warnings or take counteraction automatically. A dress with integrated massage sensors—which can be activated during train journeys, for example—is intended to improve general well-being.
The research project Solartex59 develops and tests the possibility of integrat-
ing flexible solar cells; the company Solarion in Leipzig has developed flexible, thin-layer solar cells (only 7.5 micrometers thick and almost weightless). These are integrated into clothing to provide energy for small mobile apparatuses via a USB in- terface. The Institute of Clothing Physiology Hohenstein e.V. in Baden-Württemberg plays a decisive role in this context; here, jackets are also being tested that produce energy by means of solar cells or from body heat (the human body produces energy of about 10 watts, so that body heat could give up its energy to high-tech textiles) and sport shoes that create energy from motion (the prototype is a smart sneaker by Nike, developed by Thad Starner, MIT). This idea is also being pursued by the project Sustain, whereby energy won by kinetic, static and solar-technical means is stored in textiles.60 In many cases, researchers are working with individual layers
of fabric that communicate by means of Bluetooth: one layer functions as a store, another is sensitive to light or sounds, and a third registers changes of location using acceleration sensors.
At the Geneva Institute Miralab, research is being carried out into possibilities for
virtual feeling of materials, using the name Haptex, in the form of physical param-
eters in the virtual simulation of fabrics. The Hug Shirt by CuteCircuit has already been tested as interaction design and received numerous awards.61 Hug Shirts convey
the physical feeling of being hugged, including intensity, warmth and heartbeat. The impulse for this ‘hug’ is sent by one partner to the other via mobile telephone.
In a similar way to brand clothing, in the future the wearing of electronic fashion could become a means of distinction. At first (in the initial phase of acceptance) the attraction would be wearing an intelligent outfit, such as an audio jacket with integrated headphones in the hood and a control panel on the sleeve. But it would be pointless to be the only person wearing this electronic fashion, since the aim is to exchange data with others. Data suits are useless without some form of compatibil- ity. And so the wearables will need to become a matter of course for specific groups and perhaps even develop into basics. Afterwards—in a similar way to designer fashion—distinctive features will develop: the wearer may draw attention to himself with a ‘wrong’ (in other words uncool) device or—to stand out from the rest—brand buttons will provide information about the integrated system, visible printing will show the performance data or processors, or specific colours will light up to indicate the information data symbolically. Desire for prestige and striving for competence will be expressed not by means of material values, but in terms of who owns the most and—above all—most useful and ideologically valuable or perhaps even
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most attractive information, and how fast it can be accessed. (In the case of Internet groups, there is already a tendency in this direction.)
Today’s society is defined by the information that it possesses and passes on. The creative packaging of information could be the design of fashion at the same time. Consequently, wearables will also offer modern and nonmodern systems. There will be flea-market goods and retro aesthetics—perhaps in the form of an ‘old-school’ processor. This scenario for the future must (still) be set against a wealth of doubts concerning care, emissions and the protection of data. Further technical develop- ments are likely to have a strong influence on fashionable changes.