Smarty pants
Bluetooth-embedded shirts, jackets with inbuilt MP3 players and sports bras that tell you your pulse are just some of the items of intelligent clothing that Leah Milner has discovered.
he boundary between
fashion and technology is
becoming blurred. The iPod is streets ahead of the competition because its design so perfectly combines style with function. But while technology is getting a face lift. fashion is wising tip too. and 'intelligcnt clothing‘ is threatening to transform the way we interact with our wardrobe. I‘roni wearable computers to fabrics that fight bacteria. clever clothes can take many different forms. But is smart clothing here to stay or is it just a passing fad'.’
In the past so-called intelligent clothing was held back by its lack of dress sense. Stain-repellent and crease-resistant clothes had a heavy. synthetic feel. But the technology has evolved now and Naum. an Afghan-German fashion house launched last year. has pioneered a range of intelligent fabrics on the
catwalk. The debut collection of
design duo Waleed Khairzada and Julia Jentzsch featured sun— protective and anti-bacterial cotton. as well as fabric innovations like double-faced cashmere. metallic satin and paper yarn. Now that haute couture has embraced new technology there is every hope it will filter through to the high street. But as far as wearable gadgetry goes. iPod‘s influence on current trends seems unstoppable. It is the defining product of the moment and every brand wants a bite of the apple. as it were. from car manufacturers to jeans labels. Levi is bringing out RedWire DLX jeans with an integrated docking port later this year. but at present it is snowboarding brands that have cornered the market in iPod clothing. Burton. O'Neill and Spyder all do a range of jackets and. as they snowball in popularity both on and off-piste. it won't be just the distinctive white headphone-cord that sets the iPod listener apart from the crowd. Burton’s Audex range uses wireless technology from Motorolla in its helmets. jackets and
just being harnessed. and as we
&
1) Adidas 1.1 trainers (C175); 2) Burton Amp backpack. (150); 3) O'Neill Fat Controller glove (£100). 4) Burton headphone beanie (C30); 5)) Burton Audex jacket (£399). 6) Nike Sphere Dry (£37.99), Iiike.coin; T) O'Neill hZ jacket (€450). oneilleuropecom: 8) Puma Trainaway jacket (£150). available trom Puma Concept Store. Glasgow; 9) Spyder Limited Edition (£1000. plus £299 for IPod). spyder.com; 10) MBT Blue Wave trainers. E134. mht-ukcom
backpacks. Audex jackets (£399) have a control panel in the sleexc allowing you to skip through your playlist. while the mini caller ll) display is great for screening phone calls. Bluetooth technology conveniently interrupts music when a call comes through. ()‘.\'eill's second generation jacket is an improvement on the original which included a built-in MP3 player. The new hl version (£450) is il’od— ready instead of incorporating an inferior player into the garment itself. ()‘Neill's hZ Solar Backpack (U70) has panels to charge up your iPod and mobile on the go. while its
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Fat Controller gloves l£l()()) briii iPod controls to your fingertips ~ you don‘t have to get frostbite. .
But cult boarding brand Spyder definitely at the summit in the technical stakes. Its 1000 Limited a? lidition boarding suit costs £l()()(). plus £299 for the specially engraved Spyder iPod. Because it is made from conductive e- textiles. the electronics form part of the fibre of the suit itself. making it washable.
The potential of e-textiles is only
require our technology to become more and more portable. wearable computers are bound to play an increasing role in our lives. At present. sportswear manufacturers are leading the way in this field. while mainstream fashion lags behind. Later this year Adidas will
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