Sabine Seymour, CEO of moondial edited the Fashionable Technology book:

The interplay of electronic textiles and wearable technology, wearables for short, and fashion, design and science is a highly promising and topical subject. Offered here is a compact survey of the theory involved and an explanation of the role technology plays in a fabric or article of clothing. The practical application is explained in detail and numerous illustrations serve as clarification. Over 50 well-known designers, research institutes, companies and artists, among them Philips, Burton, MIT Media Lab, XS Labs, New York University, Hussein Chalayan, Cute Circuit or International Fashion Machines are introduced by means of their latest, often still unpublished, project, and a survey of their work to date. Given for the first time is a list of all the relevant information on research institutes, materials, publications etc. A must for all those wishing to know everything about fashionable technology.

The work of Cati Vaucelle is featured in this book! She mentions Touch.Sensitive, the project I collaborated on with her :)

“Chris Pacione […] cofounder of BodyMedia took a communication design course at an engineering school — Carnegie Mellon University — and fully expected to become a product designer. ‘But as soon as we started BodyMedia,’ says Pacione, ‘it became clear that our object was only one part of a bigger picture. We had to become service designers — and after that, business model designers — in order to survive.’ *

BodyMedia’s product is a hybrid of hard and soft features. What you see on Pacione’s arm is a wearable computer, with wireless capabilities. The company develops and sells wearable body monitors and software that collect, store, analyse, and display continuous and accurate physiological and lifestyle data, such as energy expenditure (calories burned), level of activity, sleep states, and other important physiological data — anytime, anywhere. A website shows wearers charts that their body’s performance to average or ideal charts, thus enabling them to see at a glance if they are getting enough exercise, sleeping too much or consuming too many calories. As well as object design — the industrial design of the object on your arm, its shape, weight, materials, engineering and so on — Pacione and his colleague had to design the appearance and organization of information on the website. They also had to design the ways people would buy the product and pay for it; they have had to adjust the company’s business model continuously. At first, they thought consumers might obtain the product free of charge and pay for a ‘wellness monitoring service,’ in much the same way as we sometimes get a satellite dish, or television set-top box, free and pay for programs through a monthly subscription. But the marketing costs of that business model were too high, so Bodymedia switched to selling the product to sportsmen, and -women as a high-tech training aid. This did not work — the unit price was too high — so now BodyMedia sells its hybrid product- service to insurance companies and health care providers in a business to business model. Says Pacione, ‘we never stop designing the object, the way it’s used, the way the information is presented, and the way people pay for it.’ * BodyMedia’s story is pragmatic of the way traditional ‘thing’ design is evolving.”

John Thackara, In the Bubble: Designing in a Complex World (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2005). This book has been recommended to me by my dear friend Cati! According to her, Bill… (Mitchell) says it is a must read :)

* Chris Pacione, “BodyMedia Case Study” (keynote address at Doors of Perception 6: Lightness, Amsterdam, November 11-13, 2000)

“Address is a handmade electronic jewelry piece. When you first acquire the pendant, you select a place that you consider to be your anchor – where you were born, your home, or perhaps the place you long to be. Once the jewelry is initialized, every time you wear the piece it displays how many kilometers you are from that location. Prototype done, working towards production.” missmoun

View project: Address necklace by Mouna Andraos & Sonali Sridhar

Read Flat Packing: A look at Nike’s foldable shoe, Metropolismag.com article…

“Schambra [Kirsten Schambra, an American designer based in Amsterdam] looked at ways to make City Knife II lighter and more packable. Her initial ideas were inspired by origami, in which paper is bisected, folded, and tucked. She sketched some quick ideas and then began experimenting with them. One concept involved slicing a piece of synthetic leather so that you could simply slip your foot into it. A second idea added creases to the form that, when unfolded, create structure.”

Image from Nokia. The Morph Phone Mode: “A nanotechnology concept Morph demonstrates the functionality that nanotechnology might be capable of delivering: flexible materials, transparent electronics, self-cleaning surfaces, ability to observe local environment and harvest energy”.

Découvrir morph (et autres produits) et lire: Morph est symptomatique de la fusion de la technologie avec le corps humain. Court entretien de Michel Puech, Professeur à la Sorbonne par Julien François pour L’Atelier BNP Paribas.

Extrait:

“L’Atelier : Voyez-vous ce type de produits - dotés de matière flexible, intégrant des nanotechnologies - remplacer à moyen terme les appareils mobiles actuels, plus fonctionnels et moins ergonomiques ?

MP : Impossible d’anticiper l’appropriation par les utilisateurs, qui passe par du symbolique, du ludique, de l’émotionnel, et pas seulement du fonctionnel, de l’ergonomique. Si ces objets souples, transparents, multifonctionnels et très adaptables, y compris physiquement, ces objets avec lesquels on a envie de jouer, supplantent les technologies mobiles actuelles, ce sera sans doute parce que le gain de fonctionnalité est aussi un enrichissement existentiel, une nouvelle expérience physique, psychologique, relationnelle. C’est comme cela que nous sommes passés des téléphones fixes et cabines téléphoniques aux mobiles, des ordinateurs de bureau aux ultra-portables, aux baladeurs MP3…”

Excerpt from the article: Device Gives New Meaning to “Power Walking” | By Devin Powell | Science NOW Daily News | 7 February 2008

“The latest fad in self-powered wrist wear is the kinetic watch, a device that converts the momentum of a swinging arm into milliwatts. But researchers have unveiled a new accessory for your knees that puts the trendy timepiece to shame. Generating more than 1000 times more energy, the “Biomechanical Energy Harvester” may provide a green way to power the portable devices of the future.

Every time you take a step, you use two different groups of powerful muscles connected to the knee. The first group pushes to kick the lower leg out. Just before full extension, the second group pulls to put the brakes on. But for Max Donelan, director of the Simon Fraser University Locomotion Laboratory in Burnaby, Canada, and his colleagues, this braking process is just useful energy going to waste. His team has created a modified knee brace with a drive train that converts the mechanical energy into electricity. “A similar principle is used in hybrid cars to make electricity when you press the brakes; it’s called generative braking,” says Donelan.”

Info via inhabitat

“In a comment on our disposable culture, fashion designer Helen Storey is using know-how from materials science to make a show of frocks that dissolve slowly in water. Her six dissolving dresses, made from biodegradable polymer threads, are being publicly drowned in LCF Fashion Space Gallery in London. Storey has long harboured concerns about our attitudes to waste and recycling, and during her career has woven plastic refuse bags and reused rags to make boas and evening gowns. To realize her idea of evanescent products, such as packaging that disappears as its contents expire, Storey contacted chemist Tony Ryan, of the University of Sheffield, UK, after hearing him on the radio. Their Wonderland collaboration has produced new textiles and several patented products, including a water-purification device, a biodegradable bottle and orthopaedic shoes.”

Reblog from nanoarchitecture.net
Showstudio > wonderland

Weare™ is a 2007 scarf, a co-created fashion… by Moving Brands.

Screenshot from the website

“Last Christmas we set up a screen made of fairy lights in the Moving Brands window.”

“We then invited people to send messages and drawings, via a simple web-interface, to be shown in sequence in the window. The window was captured by webcam and broadcast live to the internet.”

“We stored everything sent to the window in a gallery, and the full sequence has been used to create this scarf.”

PS: I have entered 3 drawings and ordered leggings :)

Prof. Sangmin Bae and his team (Lim Yuree, Stacy + Sohn Seongki + Jeong Huikyung + Park Hyejin) from ID + IM Design Lab have designed clothTag, an “RFID tagging for your clothing life.” The team is the red dot award winner of 2007:

“Clothing could be a lot smarter with clothTag – a clothing tag that stores and communicates information about the clothing to which it is attached.

clothTag uses RFID (Radio Frequency Identification Device) technology for identification and interaction with other objects, such as smart mirrors in shops, as well as with washing machines, steam irons, closets and clothes hangers, as shown in the illustrations. Beyond these devices, clothTag has unlimited possibilities for application.

The information stored and communicated is helpful to the user, and includes general laundry treatment, colour, size, material, and colour codes. clothTag is also designed to give the user information even if the user doesn’t have a reader device; the circuit of the RFID tag can form four traditional laundry icons. The water washable icon (1), acid washing icon (2), ironing icon (3) and size icon (4) are available. The form of the circuit gives the outline of each icon group and the manufacturer can print out corresponding details of each icon on the tag.

clothTag also gives information about materials used in the cloth. The bottom bar indicates name of materials and percentage of each material used. A colour chip is provided in the middle of clothTag. The main colour and exact colour code of the cloth is printed on the tag, so the user can choose the exact colour he or she wants.”

Beautiful! A fantastic article by PinMag: Jum Nakao: Paper Fashion Art.

Screenshot From PingMag…