High Tech Gear

In the italian town of Prato, a company named Luminex has begun to weave fiber optic cables into fabric, taking fashion to another level. The results? great club gear!

Luminex uses fibers illuminated by one of five different colors of LED, these are powered by batteries. The Swiss weaving specialist Stabio then made a loom capable of producing fabrics based on the technology. At 2005’s International Symposium of Interactive Media Design, Luminex featured a clever array of products make from this fabric. Everything from table and furniture covers, umbrellas and handbags.

According to Jayaraman, Smart Shirt is a computer tshirt woven with fiber optics and electrically conductive thread that can monitor the health of soldiers, rescuers, the elderly and others who are medically vulnerable. The main advantage of Smart Shirt is that it provides a very systematic way of monitoring the vital signs of humans in an undisturbing manner. To use this new technology; first sensors are attached to the body, then the shirt is pulled on and sensors are attached to the shirt.

France Telecom R&D, announced in the press release May 03, 2002 that, it has designed a prototype for a flexible screen made of woven optical fibers capable of downloading and displaying static or animated graphics such as; logos, texts, patterns, scanned images etc. By this innovation we understand that, clothes can now act as a graphical communication interface, displaying visual information in real time and offering access to all telecom services (internet, video, e-commerce and 3G mobiles).

Elektex makes jackets that are light, waterproof and iPod ready.

KOYONO has partnered with Eleksen, makers of Elektex® smart fabric interfaces, to integrate five-button controls into our coats…and is made from the latest encapsulated waterproof fabric technology.

Take a look at the roll-up ‘wireless fabric keyboard’ Designed around ElekTex smart fabric touch pad technolgy, sensitive to the touch. Soon enough, further integration will take place and wearable computers with wifi capabilities will be in the mainstream markets. We will no longer be shopping for clothing just because of color and style but because of it’s functionality!