Ways That Smart Clothing Make Everyday Life Easier

Ways That Smart Clothing Make Everyday Life Easier

Although smart clothing hasn’t fully taken off in consumers’ collective consciousness since its launch in 2015, more companies are paving the way for the e-textiles revolution with innovative smart clothing designs. Whether you’re in need of workout clothes that will track your vitals, wearables that will keep your baby safe or even smartphone integrated business attire, the following smart clothing will change the way you pick your outfit each morning.

Staying Fit with Smart Clothing

If you’re an exercise enthusiast then you’re in luck. The majority of the smart clothing on the market right now is aimed at helping athletes stay in shape. The Hexoskin smart shirt, for example, is laced with sensors that monitor your heart rate, breathing and movements. All this information is synced back to your phone via Bluetooth to help you understand your workout routine, calories burned and even sleep quality.

Athos training clothes come with woven micro-EMG sensors to detect specific muscle activity, heart rate and breathing, all with the purpose of helping you avoid injury while at the gym. If you’re a girl and are looking for something more comfortable, there are a range of workout bras that perform similar functions. The SUPA sports bra will even keep track of UV levels, too.

Socks Are for More Than Keeping Your Toes Warm

Some people can never have enough socks. Even if you’re not a sock collector yourself, the following socks are a few you should definitely have in your wardrobe. 

Sensoria Fitness Socks do a great job of tracking precise data about the way you run. Its advanced textile sensors can record your steps, speed, distance traveled, altitude and even how your foot lands while walking or running. If you love running, these socks are for you.

Smart clothing isn’t just for athletes, though. Siren Socks are made with safety in mind. Designed to help prevent diabetic foot injuries, Siren Socks uses microsensors woven into the socks’ fabric to detect changes in temperature, a sign that inflammation is occurring. Since some people with diabetes can suffer from numbness in their legs, they may not notice this inflammation themselves and are at danger of developing foot ulcers. Siren Socks will alert users of possible inflammation through a smartphone notification or text message.

The Future of Baby Safety

With Sudden Infant Death Syndrome still claiming the life of 2,500 babies each year, it’s no surprise that some manufacturers of smart clothing are focusing on utilizing this tech to keep babies safe while they sleep. Whether you choose the Owlet smart baby sock or the Neopenda smart baby hat, you’ll be able to sleep soundly knowing your baby is being cared for overnight. These smart baby accessories monitor your baby’s vital signs such as breathing, heart rate and even oxygen saturation. If any of these drops to dangerous levels, you’ll be immediately notified on your smartphone. The Owlet Baby Sock 2 even integrates algorithms that can help identify chronic sleep irregularities and health problems like pneumonia, chronic lung disorders, bronchitis and heart defects.

Making Business Seamless

Samsung has been really focusing on their line of smart clothing under their wearables brand The Human Fit. In collaboration with Rogatis, they’ve even developed an NFC smart suit. Their business attire allows users to interact with their gadgets and smartphones through specific motions. If you live in Korea and decide to drop $500 for one, you’ll be able to unlock your phone without entering a password, set your gadgets to office or driving modes and even swap business cards digitally.

Everyday Integration

Google’s Project Jacquard has partnered with Levi to design a piece of wearable tech that will make day-to-day activities easier to manage. The Commuter Trucker Jacket includes touch and gesture sensitive areas in the sleeves that allow wearers to control and interact with many of their phone’s services, all without having to touch their device. Just swipe to dismiss or answer calls, or double tap to get directions through your maps app. 

As more functional smart clothes like this are developed, fashion and function will become integrated, attracting more consumer attention and making our lives much easier.

A smart helmet for soldiers

A smart helmet for soldiers

Helmets are simple pieces of equipment with a singular function: to protect the wearer’s head. So when it comes to increasing safety capabilities, helmets are ripe for such improvement. Already, we are seeing smart helmets pop up for use in recreational activities like biking and motorcycling. But in particular, soldiers would benefit greatly from the development of smart helmets. Smart helmets would be greatly beneficial in helping prevent serious brain damage and hearing loss, two of the most prevalent dangers for soldiers.

Smart helmets for recreational use, such as biking or motorcycling, have adopted a number of safety capabilities that could be carried over to smart combat helmets. High-end helmet designs have even boasted 360 degrees of visibility, achieved by rear-facing cameras. For soldiers on the battlefield, this would greatly increase spatial awareness and help soldiers avoid danger. A popular feature of smart helmets also includes built-in navigation systems — for soldiers, always being aware of your position is another way to increase awareness and overall safety when in treacherous environments.

India has already begun developing smart helmets with similar spatial awareness capabilities for their soldiers. The helmet features thermal imaging, night-vision, a camera, and can help soldiers identify vehicles and others in the field, able to distinguish between friend and foe via geo-tagging technology.

In the UK, researchers are beginning the process of developing smart combat helmets that can prevent hearing loss. Soldiers are exposed to a significant amount of noise at high volumes, so much so that hearing loss has become a standard occupational hazard for armed forces. To gather information, researchers have been coming up with innovative technologies to record noise levels.

Nottingham Trent University’s Advanced Textiles Research Group has developed microelectromechanical system microphones (MEMS), which are capable of measuring noise levels for extended periods of time. The idea is to integrate the devices with acoustic yarn pieces that can go over each ear in order to unobtrusively record the sound data. With this first step, prevention of hearing loss in combat helmets will soon become a reality.

The US Army has also been experimenting with smart helmets, with a heavy focus on preventing the head damage that has become typical of a soldier’s experience, namely head trauma and hearing loss. In 2017, they developed the Integrated Head Protection System (IHPS), a lightweight ballistic helmet. It functions similarly to the polyethylene Enhanced Combat Helmet that is already being used in the field, but features protective add-ons like a jaw protector and a visor. More recently, the US Army began to test a prototype helmet that is 40% lighter than the IHPS and just as strong.

While particular areas of smart helmet features are being improved upon individually, it is only a matter of time before we see a form of protective headgear that combines these capabilities. In only a few years’ time, soldiers may have access to helmets that have increased protective capabilities for both hearing and physical damage, as well as heightened awareness technology. When this happens, soldiers will be much safer when operating in the field.