February 2020 Issue Apparel February 2020 issue | Page 88
NEW AVENUES
Tapping into
Technical Textiles
The time is ripe for technical textiles to take centre stage across the globe, given
the great strides that are being made in the arena. Samir Alam writes.
Revolutions don’t happen overnight; they build
bit by bit, increasing the pressure for change
until suddenly, the floodgates open and we’re
surrounded by it. This is exactly how India went
from having trunk-calling services and public call
offices (PCOs) for communication to being the
country with the biggest mobile phone-user base
in the world. Many revolutions seem like science
fiction until they become an undeniable reality.
This is precisely the kind of revolution that we’re
currently witnessing in the world of apparel and
technology. In this respect, we don’t simply mean
how technology is improving the apparel business
or enhancing manufacturing; rather, how it is
fundamentally changing the way apparel items
function and perform.
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I APPAREL I
February 2020
Imagine a future where we don’t have to
worry about cell phones losing their battery
because every time we place them in our
pockets, they would resume charging. What if
we were alerted to fever or an impending heart
attack because the apparel we wore predicted
it? What if the clothes we wore changed their
colours and hues based on our moods? Well,
we don’t have to imagine these because all
these features exist. This is due to the rapid
evolution and revolution of smart textiles. And
what was once thought of as science fiction
has become a reality. In this article, we will take
a closer look at the world of technology and
smart apparel, and how it can revolutionise the
future of the apparel industry.