In my previous blog, I introduced the See Now, Buy Now, which allows customer’s to immediately buy a new trend as it is shown on the catwalk. However, fashion and technology have been integrated in many more ways, and will continue to do so.
Two months ago, TU Delft and AMFI (Amsterdam Fashion Institute) joined forces to blend technology and fashion. New materials and smart textiles are offering major opportunities for designers. According to TU Delft professor Kaspar Jansen, who specializes in these materials, there are three trends we can expect to see on the streets in the future.
He says that there are a number of opportunities in sectors such as wellness, transport and health, and by working together, AMFI and TU Delft can develop these new materials quicker. Developments include for example sensors that can be integrated into clothing, which can help with to monitor your heartbeat or actively maintain your body temperate.
TREND #1 LIGHTED CLOTHING
We already know that clothes can integrate LEDs and light panels. For example, for this fall HEMA had introduced a jacket with reflecting parts. But it can go much further than that: in just a few years’ time, it will be possible to apply lighted coatings directly onto fabrics, due to their flexibility.
TREND #2 THERMAL COMFORT
Clothing that can heat up and cool down offers plentiful opportunities for many professions. Not only athletes can benefit, but fireman or health workers could benefit as well. And living in a cold country like the Netherlands where the weather changes with the minute, how cool would it be to have a jacket that keeps you warm or cools you down when needed?
TREND #3 SENSORED CLOTHING
Nowadays, many people use mobile apps or smartwatches to track their heartbeat, the amount of steps they walked or other bodily functions. But the future might look different: integrated sensors can subtly be woven into fabrics, to take over these functions of smartwatches or apps. The key, of course, is to make these efforts stylish.
But there’s more: according to CNCB (2013) other trends include wearable solar (so you can charge your phone with your clothes), a personal air purifier (Worn on the wrist, this design sucks up and filters polluted air, and recycles it back into the atmosphere), wearables that react to their enviornment (items that change colour or other things depending on the amount of light or what they hear around them), or even items that make movements when they are being looked at, to name a few.
These are just a few of the many possibilities technology offers to fashion. What do you think? Do you think these developments set the future for fashion? Would you wear any of these innovations? Or what other trend do you think will appear when integrating fashion and technology?
References
http://www.cnbc.com/2013/06/28/Future-Fashion:-10-Wearable-Tech-Trends-to-Watch.html
http://fashionweek.nl/artikel/01aug16-drie-tech-trends-die-we-binnenkort-het-modebeeld-terugzien
Thanks for your post Ananda. What the most interesting development in this field is, is in my opinion clothing that can generate electricity: https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/%e2%80%98smart%e2%80%99-clothes-generate-electricity?mode=topic&context=31
Great post Ananda! I love the concept of the censored clothing. I think it has potential to gain momentum because of the increasing interest towards health and sports. That’s also the industry I believe it will be most valuable in. Do you agree?
Dear Stefani, thank you for your comment! I agree with you – I think it is most valuable in industries such as health and sports, where body temperature and keeping track of for example your heart beat are most valuable. I am really curious to see which other technologies will be implemented in clothes, and how they will be used in these industries.