Issue 27, March 2009

by Maria C. Thiry - Originally published in AATCC News, February 2009, http://aatcc.informz.net/aatcc/archives/archive_229771.html; Reprinted with permission from AATCC, www.aatcc.org, copyright holder.

Despite their sci-fi reputation, there are smart fabrics in common use today. We talk about these everyday smart fabrics in the January issue of AATCC Review. But what about the smart fabrics we're developing for tomorrow? How will we be using smart fabrics in 10 years?

VERY CLEVER
The accepted definition of "smart" fabric is one that can respond, independently and usefully, to environmental stimulus.  A more common definition is fabric that can do things that fabric isn't ordinarily expected to do. Most development in smart fabrics, so far, has focused on producing fabrics capable of health monitoring, communication, protection, and even entertainment, as well as developing the power systems to enable those functions.

Because of their development and production expense, most smart fabrics occupy niche markets. However, the extensive development and research being done today may make these smart fabrics extremely valuable and ubiquitous in the niches they occupy both today and in the coming decade. According to The Electronics Industry Market Research and Knowledge Network, "The global market for smart fabrics and interactive textiles is projected to reach a value of US$1.31 billion by 2012."

ENTERTAINMENT
Enlighted Designs, a US company, believes that a legitimate use of smart textiles is for fun! The company offers consumers a full line of clothing that lights up. Entertainers and promotional companies are frequent customers.

Ermenegildo Zegna Group, Italy, offers consumers a "Freeway Jacket" with an integrated LED light safety system, from German company Interactive Wear, for improved visibility when traveling at night in an urban setting.

Canterbury of New Zealand produces IonX—Ionised Energy Fabric that delivers ionic energy to the body through a negatively-charged electromagnetic field. Canterbury offers the fabric in a collection of sports performance and compression garments.

Italian company Luminex has developed fabric that literally emits light—not from added electronics, but from the yarns themselves. Possible applications range from night club clothing to safety wear for maintenance and construction workers to enhanced visibility of signs.

SymbioticA: the Art and Science Collaborative Research Laboratory, School of Anatomy and Human Biology at the University of Western Australia and Verigen, a Perth, Australian-based company specializing in tissue-engineered cartilage for clinical applications has developed "Victimless Leather." The team has grown living tissue, in the laboratory, to produce a leather-like material in the shape of a coat, without stitches, dyes, tanning, or even actual animal hide. At present, the project is considered more of a thought experiment, described by researchers as "providing [a] tangible example of possible futures," in which "an actualized possibility of wearing ‘leather' without killing an animal is offered as a starting point for cultural discussion."

POWER
Harnessing the human body's ability to produce energy, Canadian company XS Labs is tackling the power-generation demands of smart fabrics through Captain Electric and Battery Boy. They are designing fabrics and garments "that directly address issues of power consumption and sustainability," according to XS Labs. The project is investigating three different modes of power generation: sticky—a garment deliberately designed to make physical movement a little more difficult, and so extract energy from the body's extra effort; itchy—a garment designed to create and harvest the potential of static electricity, including "a combination of static-generating fabrics and materials that accumulate electrical charges through friction, and piezo-fabric, woven piezo threads that can generate power through mechanical transformation;" stiff—a garment intended to capture the energy of human muscles overcoming gravity through deliberately increasing the weight of the fabric.

In contrast, US company Konarka harvests the power of the sun. The thin,  lightweight, and very flexible material efficiently collects solar energy to power any electronic devices connected to smart fabrics.

Smart fabrics are here to stay, that much is certain. What form they'll take by the end of the decade, however, is the stuff of science fiction.

	Managing the Open Plan Indoor Environment
	Smart Fabrics for Today and Tomorrow
	Odour Assessment for Indoor Environments
	Green Cities and Managing Indoor Environment Quality