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Tech, Fashion, and Health

We’re still in the initial stages of this exciting field, which weaves together the best in technology, fashion and health, and is part of the overall trend of wearable technology/wearable computing.

Smart clothes will play increasing important roles in sports performance and injury prevention, wellness and health tracking, acute and chronic disease monitoring, and worker safety and productivity, as well as in self-expression and social engagement. As the roles expand, so will the opportunities for both use and abuse.

Key features smart garments need to succeed:

Need / Desirability

• The garment should be designed based on a need, not driven by a technology.

• The garment should improve the wearer’s quality of life, and perhaps even solve a problem.

• The garment should make the wearer feel something: strong, safe, invincible, beautiful, happy, powerful, special, confident, or even … smart!

Wearability

• The clothes should fit comfortably.

• The clothes need to move as we move; they need to bend, stretch, and compress.

• The clothes should be washable, long lasting, and light weight. (Bonus points if they also wick moisture and are breathable.)

• The clothes should be easy to put on and take off so they can be worn by people of all ages and by people with disabilities.

• The clothes should look good.

Smartness

• Sensors should be accurate, reliable, sensitive, specific, and reproducible.

• Sensors should have a high signal to noise ratio (low motion artifacts).

• Sensors should require minimal power and be easy to recharge.

• The sensor data must be secure and private.

• The sensor data should be compatible across many different platforms.

Usability

• The sensor interface should be intuitive to use and provide feedback that’s intuitive and meaningful.

• The sensors should be appropriately conspicuous or discrete.

• The garment should be affordable.

As smart clothes get smarter, our relationship with them will become even more personal. They’ll not only help us express who we are, but also help us understand who we are. They have the potential to profoundly reshape our relationship with our body and to transform our health.

In the future, smart clothes will:

• Be powered by your body.

• Not be tethered to your phone or other gadgets.

• Be customizable: imagine bespoke sensors and feedback.

• Not only sense you and your environment, but anticipate and react.

• Provide an even greater form of self-expression and group expression.

• Merge with the Internet of Things (IoT) to become the Integration of You (IoY).

• Solve problems you didn’t even know you had.

• Help you tell stories about who you are.