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2015 Gift Guide Best Fashion Tech
Gift Guide

2015 Gift Guide: Fashion Tech

December 21, 2015

2015 Gift Guide Best Fashion Tech

Fashion tech promises to seamlessly integrate technology into clothing. It has the potential to allow garments to respond to the surrounding environment, to better express one’s style, and to be simpler and more ecological to manufacture; fashion technology feels like the exciting next frontier of clothing. But it is an uphill battle, both from a technology and perception standpoint. After years of hiding our phones away in our pockets, smartwatches are slowing introducing the public to the idea of wearing a piece of technology. The idea is still fairly foreign though and it is an uphill battle to overcome the ‘nerdy’ image people associate with any kind of wearable technology. Additionally, batteries and electronics need to reach milestones of miniaturization, durability, and longevity for the true potential of fashion and technology to be realized. That said, we have seen a lot of exciting ideas in fashion tech this year. Whether it is Rebecca Street’s LED dress or Chromat’s breathing sports bra, most of the current fashion tech concepts are still relegated to the runway…but not all of them. In this gift guide we take a look at some of our favorite fashion tech that you can own!  

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by Doug Parker
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Adidas Parley For The Oceans 3D Printed Sneaker Ocean Plastic Gillnet
Environment, Shoes

3D Printed Adidas Sneaker Made From Even More Ocean Trash

December 9, 2015

Adidas Parley For The Oceans 3D Printed Sneaker Ocean Plastic Gillnet

While there have been some amazing advancements with technology and sneakers this year, we think that Adidas’ partnership with Parley For The Oceans is one of the most exciting! Earlier this year the companies unveiled the Adidas x Parley sneaker in front of the U.N. General Assembly. The entire upper of the sneaker was constructed of recycled ocean plastic and seized deep-sea gillnets (if you haven’t read the story of how Parley obtained the 45 miles of gillnet for the prototype, it is incredible). While the sneaker shown was only a prototype, Adidas announced that they were working with Parley to make the Adidas x Parley a consumer product. The idea was great, with every sneaker purchased you helped the oceans to be cleaner.

But Adidas and Parley For The Oceans clearly thought they could do better. The two companies used the COP21 conference to unveiled the next step in their eco-friendly sneakers. The new sneakers continue to feature an upper constructed from recycled ocean plastic but have added a new midsole. Adidas and Parley designed a 3D printed midsole that consists of recycled polyester and gillnets. The result is a sneaker that is almost entirely made from ocean waste. While there is no timeline to bring the sneakers to market, Adidas and Parley continue to state that is the ultimate plan.  

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by Doug Parker
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New Balance 3D Printed Running Shoe 2016 Gallery
Shoes

New Balance Preparing To Sell 3D Printed Running Sneakers

November 20, 2015

New Balance 3D Printed Running Sneaker 2016

New Balance has announced that it has developed a pair of 3D printed running sneakers. The news comes almost 2 months after Adidas announced a similar product. Both sneakers  utilize a printed midsole with a porous structure engineered for cushioning. The New Balance is designed for heal strikers, with a design formula similar to the company’s Fresh Foam line of sneakers. The previously announced Adidas Futurecraft 3D, on the other hand, is customized as it is created for an individual’s foot shape and running style. While the Adidas sneaker is still considered a prototype (though they intend to bring it to market at some point), the 3D printed New Balance kicks already have a launch date. The New Balance sneaker will hit the market in 2016; the limited edition footwear will initially be sold in the company’s home market of Boston in April and will become available at select New Balance stores later in the year. There is currently no price set but we expect to hear a lot more about the shoe when it is on display at the 3D Systems (the shoe maker’s printing partner) booth at CES in January. We are so excited that a 3D printed piece of apparel is finally going to be sold in a normal retail environment and cannot wait until people are able to put it to the test!

To give you an idea of how quickly 3D printing technology is moving, in 2013 New Balance pushed the tech as far as possible at the time to create customized 3D printed cleat plates for elite athletes. Moving from a mostly rigid sheet to a highly flexible, cushioning shoe-bed in 2 years is incredible. The leap is made possible largely due to technology developed by their partner, 3D Systems. Perhaps the most notable achievement is a newly developed elastomeric powder crafted from thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU). The powder, named DuraForm® Flex TPU, is used with a selective laser sintering (SLS) printing system to create the midsoles. SLS is a 3D printing method where a laser is used to transform a powder into a solid; the laser outlines a shape in a thin layer of powder as the heat from the laser hardens it, another thin layer of powder is then added on top and the process is repeated until an object is crafted. Head past the break for more images and a video of the shoes in motion.  

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by Doug Parker
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MIT Media Lab Bacteria Venting Clothing Fashion Tech Biohybrid
Fashion

Fashion Tech Discovered By MIT Uses Bacteria To Vent Clothing

October 30, 2015

MIT Media Lab Bacteria Venting Clothing Fashion Tech Biohybrid

Last month we reported on a sports bra by Chromat that reacts to your body temperature by opening or closing vents. Chromat achieved this feat through sensors, actuators, and Intel’s Curie chip. Researchers at MIT Media Labs believe they can do one better though – completely eliminate the need for electronics to create venting garments.

The researchers have discovered that certain bacteria reacts to changes in humidity levels by contracting / expanding. This behavior allows the bacteria to behave as nanoactuators. The idea is simple but ingenious. MIT Media Labs grows the bacteria in a lab and then, using a 3D printer, applies it to vents cut into an article of clothing. When the person wearing the garment sweats, the ambient humidity in that area rises, and the bacteria reacts by opening vents around the sweat. Once the humidity level (sweat) decreases, the vents close. While MIT did discover that the bacteria will react to an electric current, no power is used to control the vents.

Creating a biohybrid garment that can react to your body without the use of any electronics is amazing. This type of fashion tech clearly represents a viable future of making our clothes smarter. Not only is it relatively inexpensive compared to creating scores of delicate electronic components but it also eliminates one of fashion tech’s biggest roadblocks: the need to plug it in to charge. While we don’t expect to find the tech in our next Lululemon shirt, we hope it makes it out of the lab. If we had to guess, finding a way to adapt the technology so that it can withstand the rigors of daily life and washings is not trivial. Head past the break to see the vents in action:  

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by Doug Parker
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RESHAPE 15 SPONGESUIT Bikini
Environment

Ingenious Swimsuit Absorbs Pollution As You Swim

October 13, 2015

RESHAPE 15 SPONGESUIT Bikini

Wearable technology has the potential to do so much more than keep us updated to when someone likes our latest selfie. Wouldn’t it be amazing if it could do something to improve the earth around us? Part of the RESHAPE 15 wearable tech competition, a team out of the US won first place their concept that does just that. Called SpongeSuit, it is a swimsuit that utilizes 3D printing and a special nano-scale material to absorb pollutants in the water as you swim. Imagine if everybody who went swimming in an ocean, lake, or river was cleaning the water!

The designers behind the project view their swimwear as both environmentally proactive and economically sustainable. It is constructed of two parts. First is a 3D printed elasto plastic exterior shell. This is easily created and requires very little material. The second part is a nano-scale super-hydrophobic carbon material, called the Sponge. Basically this means the Sponge features different shapes and sizes of microscopic pores which allow it to separate and retain contaminants, while not absorbing water. In fact, the material is so porous, it can absorb up to 25 times its weight in contaminants. The first thing that crossed our mind when reading about the SpongeSuit was, “We don’t want that stuff getting on us!” Well, good news;  

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by Doug Parker
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Adidas Futurecraft 3D Printed Running Sneaker
Shoes

Adidas Shows Off Running Shoe Made With 3D Printing

October 8, 2015

Adidas Futurecraft 3D Printed Running Sneaker

Adidas is no stranger to pushing the limits to finding new ways to construct their shoes. We were crazy about their Adidas x Parley sneakers revealed this summer. The upper of the sneaker was constructed from salvaged ocean garbage, including seized illegal gillnets (as incredible as the shoes were, the story of how the gillnets were acquired was stunning!). Adidas is at it again, pushing the needle of innovation in the shoe industry. The company just unveiled the Futurecraft 3D running shoe. The entire midsole (the cushiony part of the shoe between the your foot and the ground) is 3D printed. Adidas has created a way to 3D print the midsole so that the shoe is firm when standing but just squishy enough to protect your joints when running. Furthermore, the design allows for the midsole to be customized to your foot, crafted to take into account your foot shape, pressure points, and impact pattern. The company envisions that one day you will walk into an Adidas store, run on a treadmill for a few minutes, and then the perfect, custom running shoe will be instantly created for you.

While the Futurecraft 3D running shoe is currently only a prototype, Adidas believes strongly in the concept and views it is a statement of intent. According to Paul Gaudio, Adidas’ creative director, the company is focused on “driving material and process innovation, bringing the familiar into the future.” With that approach, we expect to continue to see more compelling ideas emerge from Adidas and are excited to see which of them make it to market. Additionally, it is great to see the company not only focused on innovation, but also on new technologies that help eliminate some of environmental harm the fashion industry is responsible for. Head past the break for a video that shoes the creation process:  

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by Doug Parker
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Fashion

3D Printed Top That Reacts To People’s Gaze

October 2, 2015

Caress The Gaze 3D Printed Top Camera

Architect and designer Behnaz Farahi has posted about a new wearable project she has been working on entitled “Caress The Gaze.” Through a partnership with Autodesk and Pier 9, Behnaz has designed a garment that reacts to people’s gazes. A hidden camera in the clothing monitors the direction of where people are looking. If someone is staring too closely (in this case) at the your bosom, the clothing reacts. 3D Printed spikes covering the outside, almost like a porcupine, move, shift, and realign in way that mimics an animal when threatened. The way the spikes react is startlingly lifelike and almost creepy.

While items such as “Caress The Gaze” are little more than design exercises, they pave the path for the future of fashion tech. By exploring concepts and proving feasibility, work of designers such as Behnaz might eventually lead to something you see walking the runway. Head past the break to see the garment in motion.  

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by Doug Parker
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