Apparel Online Bangladesh Magazine December Issue 2018 | Page 74

WORLD WRAP
From wearable tech to smart clothing:
How far have we reached?
W
earable technology gave
consumers Nike’s popular
HyperAdapt shoes, and Under
Armour brought to the market
shoes that can track a runner’s
data through GPS. Meanwhile,
the entire industry has gone gaga
over the smart watch by Apple,
and activity trackers like Fitbit.
But today, smart wearables
are no longer limited to a small
touch point at the wrist, as smart
clothing is now different with
longer ranges and more accuracy.
Smart clothing, also known as
e-textiles, is more commonly
identified as wearables which are
integrated with sensors and digital
components in them. Initially
introduced as fitness trackers
and smart watches, the market of
wearable technology has now grown
into clothing, which can monitor the
wearer’s physical condition in a given
environment. Combined with machine
Self-heating jacket by Ralph Lauren
learning and big data analysis,
the technology can further provide
consumers more data about their
lifestyles and their body. smart undergarments and smart
socks. These clothes can not only cool
down or heat up, but can also change
colour and even resize themselves.
Proving to be an extremely beneficial
application for sports and leisure,
healthcare and military industry,
even though the wearable market is
recorded to be a US $ 28 billion per
year industry, smart clothing still
represents a fraction of that market.
According to a research report by
Research Nester, a strategic market
research and consulting service,
“Global smart clothing market is
anticipated to witness robust growth,
expected to garner US $ 5.2 billion
by the end of 2024.” One of the most well-received
examples of the same this year was
the ‘self-heating jacket’ by Ralph
Lauren, sported by team USA during
the Winter Olympics 2018 held
through the chilly winters of South
Korea. Made of flexible carbon and
silver ink printed directly onto the
fabric, according to Ralph Lauren,
“the ink is conductive, and connects
to a battery pack that can be set to
high, low or off. At a full charge, it
provides five hours of heat on the
high setting, and 11 hours on
the low.”
With human-computer interaction
becoming the fundamental key to a
variety of innovations that are coming
up in smart dress – brands across
the globe are experimenting with
clothing categories such as smart
t-shirts, smart pants, smart jackets,
Another product that rather fetched
mixed reviews after its launch
in 2017 was the much-awaited
smart jacket called Commuter X,
launched in collaboration between
Alphabet’s Google and Levi Strauss.
Colour changing dress by designer Julianna Bass at the
New York Fashion Week
74 Apparel Online Bangladesh | December 2018 | www.apparelresources.com
“Brands across
the globe are
experimenting
with clothing
categories
such as smart
T-shirts, smart
pants, smart
jackets, smart
undergarments
and smart
socks. Moving
beyond
aesthetics in
design, they
are also made
of fabrics
and fibres
which can
regulate body
temperature,
and can
even release
medications
into the skin.”