Charge your smartphone, help after injuries and 3 more features of smart clothes that bring the future closer

Smart clothes are clothes that are able to read signals from the body or from the environment and respond to them. Sensors, Bluetooth transmitters, microcomputers and other technological components help her in this. They can be woven into fabric, sewn into clothes, or simply put into inside pockets.

Smart properties can be found in a variety of wardrobe items - from t-shirts and jackets to gloves and shoes. But so far, such products are not popular. For example, according to 2020 statistics, such things wore only four million people in the world. The reasons are the high price and the imperfection of the technologies used. But experts suggest that in the near future the situation will change.

So, what is smart clothes capable of?

1. Warm up in the cold

Back in 1911, the American Arthur Carron patented electrically heated gloves. Such an accessory was intended for drivers of public and freight transport, because it is important for them to firmly hold the steering wheel in any weather, and it is difficult to do this with stiff hands.

Now things are heated too include in the equipment of people working in cold conditions. But there are also enough options for non-professionals. For example, jackets and vests from the brand Ministry of Supply. They have three carbon fiber elements sewn in that can heat up to 57 ° C. You can start them through the application on your smartphone manually or by commanding the voice assistant. At the same time, the system can turn on itself if it understands that the air temperature outside is too low, and it is also able to remember the owner's preferences. A similar heating technology is offered Xiaomi and brand Nordic Heat, which, in addition to outerwear, produces gloves, hats, thermal underwear and insoles.

There is also smart clothing with the opposite effect. Omius brand releases headband with cooling elements. They increase the surface area from which sweat can evaporate, and, accordingly, the body cools down faster. Such a bandage, for example, facilitate life for runners or bike fans.

2. Monitor the health

smart clothing industries predict great future in healthcare. Things-gadgets can help doctors diagnose diseases faster, and patients can quickly respond to changes in the body. For example, Siren has created socks that are watching foot temperature and report on the risk of dangerous inflammation, such as those faced by people with diabetes. Smart socks are also available from the Owlet brand. They are for babies and help control the quality of sleep, breathing and heartbeat. If something goes wrong, they will tell their parents about it.

Another promising development for medicine came up with at the California Institute of Technology. Researchers have created not clothes, but a material that hardens when compressed or stretched: it can be used to make exoskeletons or accessories for recovery from fractures.

A smart wardrobe is also useful for general health monitoring. For example, T-shirts that read ECG values ​​are available from Lenovo, Xiaomi, Hexoskin And Ralph Lauren. Clothing with sensors that collect information about the pulse, heart rate and temperature, created and in Russia. The development was carried out by researchers from the AktikTeks startup at the Northwestern Nanocenter and St. Petersburg State University of Industrial Technologies and Design. Now they are working on embedding a heating module in clothing, a textile material impregnated with carbon nanotubes that turns the fabric into a heating element. Such a thing will be able to perform two tasks at once: both to control health and to warm in cold weather. Another development of St. Petersburg researchers is a smart fabric with bimetallic nanoparticles: it endows textiles with antibacterial and antifungal properties.

3. Improve the capabilities of the body

It is important to observe the technique of performing exercises during any sport. But it is difficult to notice an incorrect position of the body or an insufficient range of motion without a coach. In this case, smart clothes will help. For example, in Nadi X yoga leggings from Wearable Experiments embedded sensors that read the position of the body in asanas. If a person does something wrong, then he immediately receives a vibrating signal in that part of the body where he needs to correct his posture. Leggings, in particular, will help to avoid excessive deflection in the lower back or a traumatic knee position.

Athos offers a similar scheme of work. Their tops, leggings and shorts have built-in electromyography sensors that collect information from different muscle groups during training, and then give feedback in the app. According to these data, one can understand whether the muscles were tense enough and whether there was an overload somewhere.

And Sensoria created smart socks that monitor the position of the foot while running, report dangerous mistakes and teach correct technique through beeps. It is not the socks themselves that squeak: they must be connected to the application via Bluetooth in order to listen to prompts. In addition, they partially work as a fitness tracker: they count kilometers, number of steps and calories burned. Approximately the same set of functions possessed Puma's The RS‑Computer sneaker.

Smart clothing helps not only athletes. So, NUADA gloves improve grasping ability of the hand, which can weaken with age, after a stroke or injury. Inside them is an exoskeleton and a smart bracelet that controls movement.

4. Replace gadgets

Several attempts to create a gadget thing were made by the Levi's brand. At the beginning of the 2000s, together with Philips, they released ICD+ jacket with built-in phone, player and headset. This was even sold in the brand's stores, but only for a year - due to the high price, it did not interest buyers. In 2016, the brand repeated an experiment, but with Google: the Jacquard chip was built into Levi's classic denim jackets. This time, the jacket allowed you to control actions on your smartphone: by tapping on the sleeve, you could answer calls, turn on music, take pictures and check the weather. In 2019, the design and technology were finalized and reissued product.

Samsung also offered its own variants of things-gadgets. In the mid-2010s, the brand sewed an NFC chip into a jacket and T-shirt. The first one helped to quickly put the smartphone on silent mode, exchange business cards with partners and manage presentations, and the second one to monitor the weather and the ultraviolet radiation of the Sun. Snap Inc., creator of Snapchat, in 2016 united clothing and camera by integrating lenses into Spectacles sunglasses. With the help of these, you can quickly take pictures and record videos, and then upload them to social networks. In 2021, the company announced the release of a new generation of glasses - Spectacles AR - with built-in augmented reality technology. But you can't buy them intended for AR developers only.

5. Get rid of worries

Technology can also affect the properties of fabric. For example, to make it water and dirt-repellent and impenetrable. similar material uses Unhoused: The company's catalog includes hoodies with FreshTech™ technology, thanks to which clothes do not get dirty, do not get wet, do not wrinkle, and also fight germs. And the brand Under Armor created pajamas from fabric, improving sleep quality and the process of muscle recovery after sports. The secret is in the bioceramic coating on the inside of the product: it absorbs the heat emanating from a person and turns it into infrared radiation.

In the future, smart clothes can also become an eco-friendly power bank. Technology for creating a fabric that collects solar and mechanical energy, suggested scientists from the USA and China. Jackets, trousers and tops made of such material can be used to quickly recharge a smartphone, headphones or other gadgets. Some smart clothing options still have this feature, but for it to work, it's important to pre-charge the item at home. With a wardrobe powered by the sun and movement, there will be no such problems.