What seems at first as science fiction at best or 'geek dreams' for others has come within the reach of the doable, technologically and socially.
Electronic miniaturization technologies have been developed over the past few years makes it possible to have computing power in our pockets that had the size of a suitcase just 15 years ago.
With the development of extremely small electronic components the possibilities to integrate them into other objects other than traditional pocket electronic devices, although chic and fashionable like jewelry, opens new opportunities for product designer and brands to come up with new types of products or to merge existing, successfully products with new functionality.
Smart Textiles or Wearable Electronic is one such area where miniaturized electronic components can offer new lines of product designs.
The textile and apparel business is spending most of their resources in optimizing the production efficiency to lower costs and increase volume production. By doing this a fierce competition in this sector ensures low product cost for consumer but also low margins for business owner.
Another negative side effect of the drive for low cost volume production is the equality of the end products, the differentiation between competitors has been marginalized.
Almost any type of garment offered by any brand uses almost identical textile materials, resulting in the same performance of a clothing item.
Combining electronic technologies with textile technologies not only enable the creation of a new type of 'fusion' clothing that serves the common function of clothing but it is adding digital functionality which has become so much part of our personality.
The relation of todays generation to electronic pocket devices is very much the same as our relation to clothing: an emotional attachment rather than a functional necessity to the product.
Consumer take it as 'given' that clothing is primarily to cover up and to protect against a specific environment that surrounds us. The purchasing decision is made based on the consumer's connection to the style, color and look of clothing otherwise all clothing could have the same color and same cut.
Ubiquitous connectivity on-the-go together with various social networking systems have triggered a 'need' to share almost every aspect of life.
Clothing is an item we not only use for protection but also to express ourselves, our personality and emotions is a prime object to be woven into the socializing trend of our digital age.
Beside the emotional value wearable technologies can add to clothing other application opportunities for the functional and professional clothing market are equally interesting to explore.
Clothing with textile based heating elements for temperature control is literally a hot item for outdoor enthusiasts and people in professions that require exposure to cold environments.
Visibility enhancements via active light emitting textiles - rather than relaying on light reflective material - can contribute to accident prevention or even life saving for personnel working in low light condition or for fitness enthusiasts cycling or running late evening.
Bio monitoring sensors woven into undergarments or fitness apparel for workout evaluation, wellness assessment and as aid for monitoring aging persons offer a wide field of product applications.
Each company planning to enter one of these markets need to know the advantages but also the limitation not only from technology perspective but also from their business structure perspective. What will be a bad fit for one company will be a successful business model for another.
ELEXTILE offers guidance, assessment and evaluation of different scenarios for each client to ensure a good foundation before setting out into the new and rewarding world of technology enhanced clothing.
