Digital Design in Women’s Clothing and Fashion

David Hasselhoff may not get the credit he deserves for his light-bulb-jacket-clad performance atop the fallen Berlin Wall all those years ago, but electronic clothes are the wave of the future. Digital fabric displaying images and text, garments and accessories contain computers and lights… The latest fashions turn people into walking multimedia. Technology is used to embed heat, optics, and communication units – not just in the future, but here, now!

What is it and How is it Made?

In computerized apparel, metallic fabrics carry electrical currents. One popular fabric, silk organza, uses copper foil and silk threads with resistors, capacitors, and coils sewn directly into the fabric. LEDs, crystals, and piezo transducers can be soldered directly onto the metallic yarn. In lighted technology, a thin, battery-powered wire is used. Georgia Tech's “smart shirt” uses plastic optical fibers and electrical conductive fiber sensors to wirelessly communicate with other devices.

What Can Digital Clothing Do?

Imagine a dress covered in flashing lights; a sound-producing hoodie; a jacket that hooks up to your GPS locator or pants that can open your garage door. Squeeze colored pads on the Hug Shirt to send vibrations, heat, and tingles to a loved one wearing a Hug Shirt. Or a scarf that contains textures, sounds, and smells to calm an autistic person. At a recent digital clothing exhibit, a dress uses conductive thread to turn bodies into musical instruments. A dress generates power when the wearer is walking, converting movement into electricity. Rather make your own? Arduino makes a circuit board stitched onto hoodies you can wire up to LEDs, speakers - whatever you want. It can tell time, sport a GPS chip, and track your heart rate.

Almost anything you can imagine incorporating into your women's clothing can be accomplished with modern technology. Digital clothing prices range from cheap to very expensive, or you could design and manufacture your own! There is no shortage of online stores and sales, and you can be sure that this stimulating trend is just beginning to explode.

Tags: fashion