14 DAY TRIAL // There have been so many announcements and information leaks about wearable electronics that it makes me wonder how long it will take before the fashion industry really crosses the line. In a good way, that is.
The idea of clothing with integrated circuitry isn’t a new one, but it is one that has largely stayed outside the grasp of most people.
Some designers and tech companies have experimented with flexible circuitry that could be included into fabric, and we even saw some touchscreen-compatible gloves not too long ago. Progress has largely been nonexistent in this field though.
Wearable gadgets like smartwatches and fitness bands, as well as augmented reality headsets, could accelerate smart clothing development though.
Even if high-tech jackets and temperature-adjusting socks don’t get invented soon, we might, at the very least, see clothes that transform our body heat into power for the devices we have on us.
The needs of current devices
Smartwatches, smartbands and whatever else you can think of that qualify as “wearable electronic” have one major thing in common: they need power.
So regardless of how portable they are, you’ll eventually have to change the battery or use a USB cable, or some wireless recharging technology, to replenish the power.
They also need a smartphone to do the heavy lifting when it comes to apps that can’t run natively on the wearable gadget.
And while there is some charm to a device that integrates the capabilities of several different items (watch, fitness tracker, pressure sensor, GPS, camera, etc.), there is also an appeal to not having to switch between functions.
There is, we might say, an appeal to having all the different capabilities divided among items that we always have on us.
The possibilities
Even if it’s just to complement or supplement wrist and arm devices, the fashion and clothing industry may spawn technological garments in time for the start of the next decade.
Self-lacing or clasping jackets, quick-drying coats, heart rate-monitoring shirts, they all could become reality over the next ten or so years.
If scientists figure out how to properly harness the power of a body’s constant motion, or just body heat, the clothes should be able to run on their own power.
Even if things don’t progress that far that quickly, clothes could at least have those power-generation/harvesting technologies built into them, to constantly supply watches, fitness bands, augmented eyewear, etc. with all the power they require.
The feature could even double as a health monitor, come to think of it. If, say, there’s not enough body heat to harness, it means you’re too cold to be healthy. A watch or phone app could be programmed to send an SOS in such a situation.
The conclusion
Technologically advanced clothing should be within reach for existing manufacturing technology. We’ve already seen an example in the Call Me Gloves, which have a speaker in the thumb and a sound sensor in the little finger, allowing you to literally talk to the hand while on the phone with someone.
Gloves can’t be worn all the time, though, except in winter, and even then, you’re more likely to find shelter than to have them on all the time. So it’s a logical move to integrate communication and health-monitoring technology, if nothing else, in the rest of the things you wear.
I can definitely imagine, at the very least, power-generating components integrated in, say, the soles of a pair of shoes. The way we walk and the weight of our bodies can definitely generate power if you know how to make it happen.
And it's not just gadgets this can be used for either, but medical devices like implants or external, specialized health monitors as well.