February 2020 Issue Apparel February 2020 issue | Page 92

NEW AVENUES
SMART TEXTILES ARE DESIGNED
UNDER FOUR FUNCTIONAL
CATEGORIES—SENSING, ENERGY
HARVESTING, LUMINESCENCE
AND AESTHETICS, AND
THERMOELECTRICITY.
end features and utility, while technical fibres can
at most facilitate the functions of smart textiles—
the key difference being electronic integration. For
example, new technical textiles may be designed
for water-resistance but a smart textile would be
able to convert solar energy into stored power. In
this respect, the potential direct use and market
possibilities of smart textiles are infinite—from
their utility in everyday wear to various unexplored
areas such as furniture and interior decoration.
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I APPAREL I
February 2020
While traditional industries (such as healthcare,
beauty, fashion, architecture, and more) are
sure to make use of smart textiles, they will also
provide other industries with significant innovation
possibilities that are yet to be imagined.
At their current level of development,
smart textiles are designed under four
functional categories—sensing, energy
harvesting, luminescence and aesthetics, and
thermoelectricity. This means that smart textiles
can be used as sensors to gather information
about the wearer and environment. They can also
be used to harness energy from the environment
and store it; beautify and dynamise apparel by
having the ability to change their light, colour,
and look; and also convert heat and movement
that is experienced through wearable clothing
into electricity.
This implies that smart textiles can essentially
revolutionise how clothing is considered as
a commodity, blending it into the realms of
consumer appliances or electronics. This is
similar to the popularity of the ‘smart watch’ and
wearable health-bands but on a remarkably
large scale.
It wouldn’t be presumptive to say that any
nation or company that can be a true innovator
in the field of smart textiles will have multiple
industry markets of the global economy, and will
be ready to advance them by leaps and bounds.
Given the rapid pace of progress in both the
technical and consumer arenas, the potential
future of the industry is only limited by its capacity
for innovation. The only question that remains is
whether this trend will span the globe with equity
or be priced out as a purely luxury good. And
while the answer may seem elusive, it’s actually
entirely up to global businesses and how they
choose to leverage these innovations and market
them to the wider population. Only time will tell.