Issue 8 / Wearable Technology: Touchscreen Clothes

by Paulomi Patel

Wearable Technology: Touchscreen Clothes

Jul 31, 2015

Get set for the next level of wearable technology. Smart textiles are hitting store shelves soon.

Does wearable technology bring to mind boring nerd chic? And do you think high-tech and fashion don’t go well together? Well, that may not be so — or at least not for long, especially if Google has its way.

Meet Google’s Project Jacquard. It’s set to weave touch controls into textiles right on the loom.

The company has developed yarn containing ultra-thin metal alloys capable of transmitting Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and other Internet app information from your smart devices — making it possible to weave touch and gesture sensitivity into fabrics. What this means, as per Google’s Project Jacquard webpage, is that everyday objects such as clothes and furniture can transform into interactive surfaces.

^{Photo credit: www.cutecircuit.com}

In other words, if you think Google is already woven into your life metaphorically, soon it’ll literally be woven into your clothes too.

Mindboggling? Not so much. Wearable technology has been around for some time. From smart watches, digital fitness bands and interactive eyewear like Google Glass to shoes that monitor your heart rate, like Nike’s, wearable tech is already in use. Plus, brands like Athos have created health-focused clothing that measures muscle activity, heart rate and respiration in real time.

But all these innovations have mostly stayed on the fashion industry’s periphery. They haven’t had any real impact on the majority of the population. Google’s Jacquard is set to change that because it can be incorporated to existing products.

“We want to make interactive garments at scale so that anyone can make them and everyone can buy them. Jacquard is a blank canvas for designers and developers,” says Ivan Poupyrev, Project Jacquard founder at Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects in Mountain View, California. “We’re just at the beginning and we’re really excited to see what people are going to do with it.”

Google Jacquard yarn is soft enough to be woven into any fabric — polyester, silk or cotton. Any garment maker can weave the yarn into any fabric, either visibly or invisibly. To make the yarn work, designers need to embed electronics into the garment as well. So the added step when it comes to garment construction will be to incorporate easy, subtle ways to insert batteries and chips that allow for connectivity to make the final garment interactive.

“What’s amazing about the project is that I don’t need to have any knowledge about the electronics and how it works. So, let’s see what we can create with it,” says London’s Savile Row tailor, Nick Hammond, about Google Jacquard.

While Google may not actually manufacture garments (yet?), it’s already found its first major brand partner for the project in Levi Strauss & Co.

“We like to think that we have these iconic products that haven’t changed much but the world is changing and I think this Jacquard offers great opportunity for a brand or design to open the door to the future,” says Bart Sights, who leads technical innovation at Levi’s.

^{Photo credit: www.cutecircuit.com}

While Levi’s and Google haven’t announced price points, designs or styles, the companies have alluded to introducing products made with Google Jacquard in 2016. Get set for a pair of jeans that could control the music on your cell phone, allow you to answer calls and send messages, and even let you switch off your home’s smart lights if you leave them on accidentally. What’s more, you’ll be able to do all this simply by tapping on your jeans or perhaps a denim jacket sleeve. There won’t be any need to pull out your smart phone! Never before has high-tech gear been this close to our closets.

^{Photo credit: www.wearableexperiments.com}

Ambitiously High-tech

A list of the top high-tech wearable gadgets — read on to wonder at the possibilities!

Wearable Experiments
The New York–based We:eX (Wearable Experiments) has created the Navigate Jacket. It helps wearers find their way with gentle “shoulder taps” to indicate directions. They’ve also introduced the first app that allows people to feel touch transmitted through their smartphones into high-quality bamboo fabric garments. This app is called Fundawear. Then there’s the Alert Shirt — a fan jersey that lets viewers experience what players feel in real time as the game happens.

Wearable Solar
The Brooklyn-based based Voltaic Systems builds solar backpacks and bags that charge phones or other electronic devices on the go.

Wearable Fitness Trackers
Numetrix sports bras, racer tanks and shirts are made with innovative "smart fabric" technology that monitors your heart rate.

^{Photo credit: Main image courtesy of Google's Project Jacquard; www.cutecircuit.com; www.wearableexperiments.com}