various applications such as health management, communication, and actuation. For instance,
D-Shirt offered by France-based Company, Cityzen Sciences, is an example of smart fabrics
which is available with wide range of functions to record heart rate, GPS location, route, altitude,
and speed. Increasing sale of sport equipment is expected drive growth of the market of smart
fabrics as smart fabrics are widely used in sport industry to reduce potential injuries to
professional athlete. As per Coherent Market Insights, in 2014, around 12 million sports-related
injuries were observed, which led to economic burden of around US$ 33 billion, of which 50%
of the injuries were estimated to be preventable by the use of smart fabrics. These performance
enhancing smart fabrics are being used in extreme sports and athletic activities to regulate body
temperature, control muscle vibration, and reduce wind resistance which may improve the work
efficiency of athletics.
Growing applications of smart fabrics across various industries including health, beauty,
entertainment, defense, healthcare, transportation, and food & beverages, among others is
expected to offer lucrative growth opportunities for the electronic fabrics makers in the near
future. Smart fabrics have considerable adoption in defense & military applications where it is
used to protect the users from environmental changes. For instance, a bulletproof vest senses
the bullets impact and stops penetration in the body.
Increasing number of people are becoming more health conscious and want to maintain a
healthy lifestyle. Therefore, demand for smart fabrics is increasingly significantly. These fabrics
aid in providing real-time data related to heart rate, body fat, and others. Furthermore,
photodynamic therapy uses light emitting textiles and this selective treatment has been used in
cancer treatments.
However, high costs associated with materials and technologies being used in these fabric is
expected to hamper the market growth. Additional costs of electronic devices, conductive
materials, and smart materials increases the price of end products, which in turn affects the
purchase behavior of the buyer. In addition to this, few categories of the smart fabrics may
require frequent power supplies, which can further adds up to the maintenance costs.
Regional Analysis for Smart Fabrics Market
On the basis of geography, the global smart fabrics market is segmented into North America,
Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East, and Africa. North America and Europe are
dominant regions in the smart fabrics market, owing to presence of large number of
manufacturers of smart fabrics in these regions such as Bebop Sensors, Triton Systems, Vista