September 25, 2014

Zero Power Smart Fashion Conference

During Fashion Week, we attended the Zero Power Smart Fashion Conference, which showcased the latest advancements in the fields of fashion and technology. Located at The Gallery of Metropolitan Pavilion in the Flatiron District, the conference was designed to help merge the two growing sectors and allow specialists in these areas to connect from both the US and throughout Europe. Over 20 speakers ranging from professors of technology to textile designers to healthcare professionals and beyond presented at the event, which was hosted by top universities EPFL and ETH Zurich in cooperation with Swissnex Boston, an organization devoted to connecting Switzerland and North America in the areas of science, education, and art.


Today, we'd like to highlight our favorite exhibitors from the event and how they are changing the face of wearable technology.


Sensoria's mission is to produce body sensing wearable devices to improve the overall livelihood of people's fitness, health, and wellness. At the conference, they introduced their collection of Sensoria Fitness products which included smart socks that track steps, speed, altitude, and distance via force sensors that pair with a Bluetooth anklet, a t-shirt that has an embedded heart rate monitor and performance properties like moisture wicking, as well as their sports bra with embedded textile heart rate electrodes and once again moisture wicking capabilities.


Also at the forefront of fashion and technology is the Swiss embroidery company, Forster Rohner which have created illuminated fabric displays in the form of clothing. Developed by an expert team of electrical engineers and textile designers, these e-broidery® textiles feature integrated lighting that is actually woven into washable, drapeable fabrics in the form of textile panels, placed motives or delicate ribbons. For their Fall/Winter 2014-15 Collection, AKRIS incorporated allover embroidery and LED's into dresses, trousers, jackets, and bags. We can't wait for these innovative pieces to hit stores this fall!


Bringing together fashion and technology with a functional design aesthetic, Wearable Experiments is a socially driven company that creates invisible, waterproof, and durable designs. They have developed a jacket that vibrates based on the direction you need to travel, which you may remember us discussing on a blog post a few weeks back. Since then, they've also released their Alert Shirt, a knit athletic shirt that hooks up with players on the field and allows fans to feel what their players are feeling as it's happening. Basically, it's as close as you can get to actually playing the game.


Kopin, a leading developer of wearable computing technologies, has officially launched their PupilTM display module which is the first truly invisible display for eyewear. In conjunction with this achievement, they have also unveiled smart glasses featuring a combination of micro-display LCD's and voice control noise cancelation qualities.


There were some amazing speakers, but unfortunately due to time constraints we were only able to hear a few speakers, Andrea Onetti – Head of High Volume MEMS and Analog Divisions at STMicroeletronics, Amanda Parkes – CTO of Manufacturer New York, and Davide Vigano – Co-Founder and CEO of Sensoria, Inc.

With the wearable technology craze really picking up speed, this very informative event produced an environment for interesting conversations, exchanging knowledge, and a great platform to connect fashion and technology.

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