14 DAY TRIAL // Although CeBIT is nowhere near a fashion show, this is exactly what we've come across upon visiting the Future Parc section of the exhibition. And no, we're not talking about any haute-couture, but about what normal people might be wearing in just a few years' time, namely clothes built using advanced technologies and integrating electronic components.
As you probably know already, there are several companies out there who manufacture clothes with integrated control systems for various portable multimedia devices, the iPod in particular. However, that's just the beginning, as the future holds some pretty amazing surprises in this field.
For example, the Bayern Digital Radio GMBH is offering a very special ?multimedia jacket", which features a built-in antenna for tapping into DMB (digital multimedia broadcasting channels). Another equally futuristic piece of clothing is the jacket from Thema Wearable computing, which allows its users to turn themselves into some sort of Borg-like creatures, with technical stuff popping up just about everywhere and anywhere.
Quite obviously, all of these devices incorporated in one's clothing require electricity in order to function, and since carrying around loads of batteries is not exactly ideal, designers have turned to one of the world's most important sources of renewable energy, the sun.
For example, the Sunload company is presenting a couple of solar-powered accessories, like the SolarShopper and the Solar Rucksack, which store the power received from the sun and then use it whenever it's necessary. However, Pierre Cardin is taking things to the next level, as the very famous design house has unveiled the Pierre Cardin SolarEnergy Jacket, a rather fashionable sports jacket which features built-in solar panels.
Last but not least, the aforementioned future fashion show also included clothes manufactured from some pretty special materials, the most interesting being the WarmX, which is capable of maintaining one's temperature at a constant level, without any other additional sources of heat.
Live report by Bogdan Popa and Alex Vochin from CeBIT 2008 Hanover, Germany.
