Smart textileSupervised by\dr.sherwet

In what way will the introduction of Smart Textiles change the textile- and fashion design professions?

These questions are key issues in the Smart Textiles Design.

In what way will the introduction of Smart Textiles change the notion of a “textile” product?

Introduction to smart textile:

The new Smart Textiles products introduce a shift from passive functionality to active behavior .

This means that the dimension of time will be more important in textile- and fashion design. Form is then no longer only a matter of spatial shape, but it also concerns the temporal structures of interactive behavior.

lets see one of the important application in smart textile industry

The technical developments in the sports clothing industry have resulted in the use of engineered textiles for highly specialized performances in different sports.

smart materials providing such a strong focus in the textile industry generally, companies are increasingly looking for ‘value added’ textiles and functional design in sportswear as well as intelligent textiles which monitor performance with in-built sensors.

Textiles in sport is divided into five partsPart One explores the current sportswear market, starting with a market overview then going on to look at current design, material requirements and functional footwear.Part Two the innovative fibers and fabrics available are outlined, including high performance and high functional fibers.

Finally, part Five offers outlines of specific applications, with case studies of textile composites, textiles in sailing and textile use in sports shoes. 

Part four the important issue of protection is looked at in the next section, with chapters on impact protection, protection against the cold and water resistance and water vapor transfer.

Part Three focuses on the need for comfort in sportswear. The physiological comfort of sportswear can affect not only a wearer’s wellbeing but also his performance.

Some examples for smart textiles in sports wear:

the shirt incorporates a harness worn around the chest made from fabric sensors woven into it This smart fabric, in combination with specialized electronics, can measure, transmit and record key athletic performance attributes such as heart rate, respiration rate, skin temperature and posture.

nike is jumping into the wearable safety gear for runners. The Nike Electrolyte Arm Band has an embedded soft light. Not only is this very wearable, its comfortable and affordable.

It barely weighs more then a traditional arm band, and is curved so it can be seen from many angles. Made of a flexible, lightweight, wide-angle wrap-around electroluminescent light bar that flashes on your upper arm.

Biodevices brings us the Vital Jacket. This garment is used to monitor ECG waves and Heart rate levels. This can be used for sports, fitness, and medical purposes. This beat traditional cumbersome methods and is a valid high quality solution.There are currently two versions available, the HWM100 that stores data on a SD memory card for post-analysis on a PC. This version allows long term monitoring. Users can define heart rate limits and will be alerted through a vibration alarm embedded in the T-Shirt. The second version is the HWM200 that allows real-time visualization where data is sent via Bluetooth.

Australia’s CSIRO Textile and Fiber Technology has designed a interactive sleeve that is designed to help basketball players develop a shooting rhythm. It works by making rhythmic sounds that correspond with the shooting motion.Although this cannot be used in a game situation, it does help promote repetition and muscle memory. When the sounds play like disco drums, then the motion is correct.

And now lets go inside the garment and see how it works:

The previous picture shows a piece of plastic woven textile integrated a temperature sensors inside it

MC10's flexible electronics are created by printing thin strips of silicon onto flexible substrates that can conform to surfaces (i.e. clothing or skin).

At Last but not least we have discussed the general idea of smart textiles specially in sports.

Hope you found it useful and thanks for your time.