SMART CLOTHES NEXT

A-Nerve pleating sleeve, Bluetooth accessory for mobile phones, by CuteCircuit

I want my clothes to take care of themselves and me, and make life even more fun. Here are a few things on my wishlist* for future clothes (all sustainably/ecologically produced and used, of course...)

*Most, if not all, of these concepts are already in research or prototyping. Click the links and dream.

• Mend themselves if torn or worn (i.e. self heal, like skin)


• Repel dirt and stains, and totally Self-clean


• Administer vitamins or medicines (insulin, say) transdermally


• Or expose our bodies to light to counteract SADD


• Regulate vital functions


• Destroy germs and bacteria in our surroundings


• Massage sore muscles


• Stimulate muscle exercise and toning


• Destroy cellulite


• Moisturize or exfoliate our skin


• Protect us from bullets or knives


• Sample toxins in the environment and alert us


• Store solar or kinetic energy for running PEDs


• Provide light in the dark


• Administer aromatherapy


• Hug us


• Deliver messages or images on integrated flexible screens


• Talk to other people's clothes


• Mimic our surroundings for camouflage (protection)


• Or make us stand out from our surroundings (mating colors)


• Change their surface “print” pattern, colors, and texture


• Be usefully convertible (a puffy ski jacket that is also a carry-on suitcase... with wheels)


• Change from breathable to waterproof, and back, as needed


• Regulate our comfort and temperature (warm us, cool us)


• Be fireproof, heat protective


• Provide our GPS position to ourselves or others


• Be wearable/washable “laptops," "iPods," "phones"


• Iron themselves, or animate, via shape-memory or other technology


• Be made of lab-grown, cruelty-free leather, fur, feathers
• Be "nano-built" to have the actual color and iridescent properties of, say, beetles, butterflies, diatoms, and bird's feathers


• Grow new pieces, parts or textural layers over time


• Have pockets only where and when needed


• Be grown or 3D printed to our exact dimensions, without sewing or seams

And when "smart textiles" are ubiquitous and economical, will there be a counter-market for passive, privacy respecting, "dumb textiles"? And a nostalgia for old-fashioned details like real sewn seams, and socks that rip or fray before we've finished with them? I wonder.

SOFT, NATURAL AND HI-TECH

Throughout human history, luxury has meant fine, expensive, or rare stuff. But "stuff" has become abundantly, overwhelmingly, common, while other things, such as time, personal space, and real nature, have become rare. In the near future, luxury will be defined less by the stuff we have, and more by the leisure we have, our access to pristine nature, the purity of our personal environment, our health and well-being, and our access to information. These, in my opinion, are the emerging definitions of luxury.

Which is more rare and precious -- the diamond or the cat?

What's desirable in this picture -- his clothes or his "landed," leisure-class lifestyle?

In our toxic, late-industrial lives we yearn for the natural... not the actual natural of wilderness (in which setting, we humans, like other animals, are mostly engaged in basic survival), but the apparent natural of sustainably cultivated nature.

Yearning for natural things is nostalgia for an intact world, when humans were just one component striving on a seemingly much larger, and still healthy, Earth. But our yearning could also be an emotional expression of a biologic and psychologic need – like when you've been eating Cheez Doodles all day, and suddenly a plate of steamed kale seems like the most delicious food possible.

As a designer, if I want to make a good and meaningful contribution at this stage in the human story, I must address the open-ended problem of how to make things that are life-enhancing and pleasing, and which support the integrity of the environment and the well-being of all people, not just the wealthy.

If, as architect William McDonough has said, a tree is the most perfect design there is – a 'machine' that makes oxygen, eats carbon dioxide, ionizes the air, makes food, supports micro-eco-systems, self-replicates, etc. – the more that man-made designs (from the macro- down to the nano-scale) behave like and resemble trees, the more advanced our technology and the more perfect the design.

A perfect design. Photo: Jen Buley

Another analogy: it is still said that the human brain is the most advanced, sophisticated computer that exists... yet it is soft (inside a hard shell), and integrated into something (a human) with myriad, flexible functions. The human brain also has two distinctly different ways of working – one analytical, skeptical and linear (left brain); the other intuitive and sensual (right brain). Thusly, in their evolution, computers are also becoming soft and flexible, adept in analysis and 'intuition', and integrated into objects with multiple functions.

Is it an infant onesie or a vital signs monitor (and skin moisturizer and transdermal vitamin doser)?

The funny thing is that futurists have traditionally embraced tropes of machined metal, hard forms, smooth-shiny, cold, mechanical, etc, as symbols for hi-tech. But, I think that Philip K. Dick, who wrote the book on which the film Blade Runner is based, had a more accurate idea. The most advanced technologies of the future will look and feel totally natural -- and if we get really good as designers and engineers, they will be indistinguishable from natural things. (I should add that, hopefully, our future will differ from Dick's creation, and we will save the Earth from total degradation before the 'real animals' are extinct and the ecology is dead.)

Instead, the technology trends point toward natural, soft, flexible, and biological:

• Technologies and computers becoming so integrated and/or miniscule that they are, for all purposes, “invisible”
  
• Incorporation of “smart" technologies into previously inert objects (clothing that analyzes body function and self-cleans; walls or roofs that store energy, clean air, and grow food)


• Smart objects that multi-task (consider laptops today, which are typewriter, calculator, world-class library, record player, telephone, television, photo lab, drawing pad, social facilitator, shopping mall, etc, all in one). The days of appliances and objects that do one thing are over... and 3D printing also points to the end of manufacturing machines that do only one thing.


• Softness – incorporating flexibility and the ability to morph into different forms for different circumstances (changeable textures, colors and forms, camouflaging)
  
• Sensing objects that detect changes in their environment and in their user (in terms of health, state, and emotion)


• Natural forms and natural feels
  

We will be getting somewhere when technology “disappears.” I'm not talking about living like cavemen and women... I'm talking about really hi-tech... hi-tech that makes our current hi-tech look like the Flintstones. The most hi-tech things will either be invisible to the naked eye, or will look totally natural. For example, man-made water and air filtration that looks and feels like – and therefore IS -- a grassy field, a forest, a mountain stream.

Mountain stream or grey water waste treatment facility? Photo: Jen Buley

Biotechnology and biomimetics, research that learns from nature, and builds or synthesizes needed man-made things in the images of nature -- in terms of function (photosynthesis, CO2 capture, metamorphosis, camouflage, tissue re-generation, and self-healing), aesthetics (softness, flexibility, color, fragrance, individuality), and total biodegradability -- will be key, if we are to design an equitable future worth living.

3D PRINTING: THE FUTURE FACTORY

I see textiles as an industry ripe for a new manufacturing model that is more adaptable, customizable, much cleaner, more socially conscious, and smaller-scaled. Yes, smaller-scaled.

The common wisdom is that the exodus of manufacturing and capital to China (and other industrializing countries), is the wave of the future. But I believe that the manufacturing model being implemented in many cases (massive factories, massive pollution, mass production) is a dead end, like the Neanderthals.

Mass production doesn't work anymore. It's an early industrial model that uses too many resources, and creates too much pollution, to produce goods that sit on warehouse shelves growing outdated, or getting shipped around for discount reselling (creating yet more pollution).

I'm convinced that the future of manufacturing, including textiles, is in collective design and 3D printing (aka rapid manufacturing, digital manufacturing). The following ideas and links are largely inspired by a fascinating TED talk by MoMa design curator, Paola Antonelli, on her 2008 MoMa exhibition "Design and the Elastic Mind." Watch it!

2D digital printing is already revolutionizing print manufacturing. 3D printing, which sounds like the stuff of Star Trek or The Jetsons, is already being used for product prototyping, and is beginning to be used for small-run production of real goods.

Designer Janne Kytännen, describes himself as a "Pioneer in Design for Digital Manufacturing." His company, Freedom of Creation (FOC), is already producing "laser sintered" textiles and hard products using 3D printers.

"Chain mail" textile produced by 3D digital printing. Designer: Janne Kytännen, FOC

Tray produced by 3D digital printing. Designer: Janne Kytännen, FOC

Last month, Seed Magazine published an account of RepRap, the self-replicating rapid prototyper, which costs a couple hundred dollars to assemble, and uses open source software. Its creator, Adrian Bowyer of the University of Bath, says that the technology of RepRap will lead to the “decentralization of all industrial production.”

Child's shoes, made with RepRap 3D printer, Adrian Bowyer, University of Bath, UK

Google's Open Source Programs Manager, Chris DiBona says, "Think of RepRap as a China on your desktop."

In the USA, Evan Malone, Ph.D., has developed another 3d Printer, called the Fabber. Malone has also made his software open source, and has consciously worked to make the purchase price of the printer as low as possible, to encourage as much user experimentation as possible. (The current price of a Fabber kit is about $2000.) A variety of materials can be used for fabrication (i.e. silicone, wax, plaster, epoxy, chocolate, etc). Listen to the podcast about the Fabber on Phorecast. You'll be blown away.

With 3D printing technology improving quickly, the availability of open source software, and non-proprietary materials, 3D printers for small-businesses are becoming a real, and immediate, possibility. If you think that's far-fetched, consider what happened to the personal computer in the span of a few decades:

A precursor to the mini-computer, PDP-1, 1960. Price-tag: $120,000.

The mini-computer now, Apple MacBook Pro, 2008. Price tag: about $2000.

Here's a picture of one 3D printer, currently used for prototyping. Look familiar?

RM machine, Phoenix Analysis and Design Technologies, 2008

Besides the "Ooooh, cool" factor of digitally printed 3D objects and textiles, this technology has incredible potential to actually improve products and reduce waste through collective design and mass customization.

Bruce Sterling compares the new model of "mass customization" with the old model of mass production. Mass customization is a production process where different entities, including the customer, are involved in the manufacture of the product. Dell, Inc., already uses this model successfully. The customer "custom-builds" the exact computer she wants using menu items on the website, and the final computer is assembled only after she places the order.

Some benefits of mass customization and collective design, are:

• The customer gets exactly what he wants;
• Natural, energy, and people resources are not wasted on unwanted products;
• Transport pollution is minimized: product is shipped once – directly to the customer;
• Overhead is lowered, as warehousing finished products is eliminated;
• Products do not become outdated, because they are not made until they are purchased

Adding 3D printing technology to the equation:

• Designs and products can be adapted on every level as new information and needs arise;
• No need to re-tool machines for design changes -- all changes are made in programming;
• Internet and PC technologies make global business possible even for small businesses;
• Short-run production and "originals," are possible;
• Natural resources are further preserved by eliminating pre-manufactured components.

I believe that it is only a matter of time before 3D printers are able to create a variety of tactile qualities, textures, weights, and colors, opening the way for beautiful design and a brand-new model of production that is adaptable, portable, and green. That is hope for the future.