E-Fabrics Still Too Stiff to Wear
from the don't-try-this-at-home dept
We’ve posted a number of articles in the past few years about “e-fabrics”. The cutting edge of textile technology where electronic circuitry is sewn directly into the clothes you (or, in many cases, your local soldier) would wear. Despite all the talk, and prototypes, we still haven’t seen any products come out of this arena. It turns out that this is because all those e-fabrics are really uncomfortable to wear. And, that’s coming from the CEO of a company who makes them. She’s suggesting that people in the industry stop overhyping the technology, and focus on finding more practical uses for the technology these days.
Comments on “E-Fabrics Still Too Stiff to Wear”
why e-clothing again?
I have yet to understand the advantage to embedded electronics in clothing… Why not just carry very small devices separately?
I don't quite understand...
When I was a kid I used to do modern fencing. One of its forms involves wearing a vest that has wires woven all over – to detect contact with the opponent’s weapon. It wasn’t exactly a joy to wear (it was quite thick to prevent bruises) but I definitely wouldn’t call it unwearable. I would guess there’s a problem when there’s just a patch of e-fabric sewn into an ordinary piece of clothing. It must feel uncomfortable having a relatively inflexible spot somewhere.
Why clothing at all?
So why doesnt anyone see another use for this? Clothing isnt the only thing textiles are used for. If someone can get in touch with me with information about how to contact the people developing this stuff I would appreciate it.