Digital Clothes: Active, Dynamic, and Virtual Textiles and Garments

This article will examine the probable and possible pitfalls offered to consumers and designers by the potential of textiles and garments that are responsive, active, interactive, and aware, using technologies inherited from other craft fields such as medical sensing and information technology.These developments present obvious, and much discussed, opportunities for the design of functional garments for applications in dangerous industries, sports, rescue, and the military. However, the effect on the already complex dynamic between garment and everyday wear has not been so well examined. Using the social effects of the uptake of other now ubiquitous technology devices such as mobile phones and the Internet as a model for social impact, this article will take a look into the possible near future to see both what is possible, but also what can go wrong with active garment fashion.This examination of the “digital” in garment manufacture moves well beyond the current, often rather clumsy incorporation of wires, sensors, and novelty “glow in the dark” fiber optics into conventional clothes. Rather, it examines the maturing of a field in which revolutionary display technologies and bio-feedback sensing are merging with textiles to produce totally natural feeling and looking fabrics that can not only change their overall color, but can display complex patterns, as well as respond to stimuli from wearer and environment. Aspects such as the effects on personal health, social conventions, and economic costs will be considered.The article will also consider the domain of clothing and fashion for people who inhabit “virtual” environments, interacting with other people in real time. Unlike more familiar computer games, these online environments involve extensive, long-term social interaction between participants. Unfortunately, the choice of “costume” for the visual representation of each player, currently very limited, has become a frustration for individuals, and threatens to limit the social agency and growth of these environments. The problems of designing and implementing credible and engaging fashions for virtual reality are therefore also examined.