Wearables for Everyday Fashion ABSTRACT
Why has wearables not entered the mainstream, commercial market yet? Is it because consumers are not interested in intelligent clothing? Is it because it is too expensive to mass-produce? What are the reasons that it has not caught on and why do we hardly see these new aesthetics and functional expressions outside exhibitions, conferences, and stage performances? I propose that one of the reasons is the aesthetic expression of wearables. Prototypes and commercially available wearables tend to be aesthetically and material wise quite far from the aesthetics and the material (fabric) of the clothing we normally wear. Many wearabes e.g. use LEDs as an aesthetic expression, which, however beautiful it might look, is quite far from what everyday clothing looks and feels like, seeing that everyday clothing is mostly based on fabric.
THERMOCHROMIC INKS
Working with thermochromic inks in combination with pigment ink is like working in the blind, because the outcomes cannot be predicted. I designed a testmethod and documented every print in order to find out how to design with the inks. The first column is the combination of thermochromic inks with pigment inks, the next column is the print when cold, the third colum the print when heated. The last three columns are pictures of the actual testprints on the background colors gray, white and black.
PROPOSITION AND QUESTION:
How can we make wearables that relate to current, mainstream fashion trends, which is, among other features, mostly based on fabric and yet still bring new expressions to the table? MATERIALS
Thermochromic inks (color changing inks), that become transparent at 27° C/ 80.6 Fahrenheit. Pigment inks, heating pad from Sparkfun, conductive thread, Lipo batteries and the LilyPad Arduino.
Testing the electronics, proposing how they should be placed and sewn on, on the inside of the outside pocket. The heating pad is placed in the pocket.
DESIGN CONSTRAINTS
• NO LEDs. • NO reaction to uncontrollable stimuli from inside or outside the body – the wearer should be in control of the expression of the clothing at all times. • NOT for art or performance • INSPIRED by current fashion • APPEAL to fashion and tech conscious women, age 25-35.
The final result. When the button of the pocket is buttoned (conductive button behind the decorative button), the heating pad in the pocket turns on. When the button is unbottened, the heating pad turns of, slowly making the red color fade.
DESIGN METHOD
To keep the aesthetic of current fashions and explore the material properties, I designed a method which is an iterative process between moodboard, design constraints and material explorations.
CONCLUSION
The material explorations: 1) Thermochromic inks, pigment inks, conductive thread, heating pad and the LilyPad Arduino can be used to make a wearable that is able to change visually in terms of colors on minor details. The color change can be controlled by wearer. 2) Lack of control of wearable in a warm environment, where the change of colour will occur even though the wearer have not initated the change. The method: 1) The combination of material explorations and fashion methods as a design tool, is a powerful combination in designing a wearable with an everyday aesthetic.
PERSPECTIVE 1) Explore materials with color changing properties in aiming at designing a wearable with not only changeable details, but overall changeable visual expression. 2) Explore how the wearer can be in complete control of the expression on the wearable even when in a warm environment, maybe by using other color changing inks or inks that change at a warmer temperature than 27° C/ 80.6 Fahrenheit. 3) Explorations into power options. Next prototype use Heatit°C, an open-source electronics platform currently being developed, which can precisely output high current. 4) Further explorations into how fashion methods and material explorations can be combined in order to desing wearables with everyday aesthetic expression.
Marie Olofsen molo@itu.dk www.marieolofsen.dk # (+45) 26 25 66 31