Abstract
This paper looks at what is meant by the term smart clothes. It gives the history of smart clothes by looking at the relationship between fashion and technology. In this paper we find that the smart clothes are dated back to the early 20th century and they can be attributed to the works of artists and scientists. Smart clothes differ from other fashions in that they act as clothing as well as protective devices. They are embodied with electronic sensors for carrying out different functions. This paper relates the functions of smart clothes in monitoring the health of patients and shows how they can be used for entertainment. It concludes by forecasting about the future of smart clothes which seems to be promising in the midst of internet technology.
Introduction
Clothes are worn for different purposes; the main purpose behind the introduction of cloths was to protect the body from harmful rays of the sun. They are also worn to prevent private parts from being exposed to everyone. There are many different types of clothing worn for different purposes. Some are worn occasional while others form part of the daily life. The type of clothes worn differ according to seasons of the year, for instance during winter, people wear heavy clothing to keep themselves warm whereas during summer people wear light cloths to help their bodies cool. We are used to three types of attire; Business casual, Professional Dress, and campus casual.
Business Casual is not common in a professional business or an office setting but can be found in a semi-conservative workplace. Professional dress code is the most conservative type of business wear. It is common in finance office, accounting office or other conservative business environments. Sometimes employees are forced to wear professional because of the conservative employers who have hired them (Heathfield 1). Campus casual refer to the clothing that one puts on during his/her leisure time. It comprise of jeans, sneakers, tee shirts among others. Campus casual can be worn under certain circumstances in the work place for example in casual networking events.
With advancement in technology, a new fashion has emerged that is neither used because of the occasional nor can it be grouped into a specific type of dressings. This new fashion is referred to as “smart clothes”. They are cloths embodied with electronics and different sensors for protection purposes. This paper will look at the history of smart clothes, look at some of the functions of smart clothes with more emphasis on the medical field, and conclude by giving a thought on the future possibilities of this new fashion.
History of Smart Clothes
Art that is considered as something worn on the body has had an elusive reputation for a long period of time. Furthermore, works that are wearable contribute to an unknown history of projects that are not necessarily linked or thought to form part of a cohesive practice. There are many similarities between garments and art that are considered to be inclined to commercial infrastructure and cultural literature. With the introduction of wearable technology (smart clothes), many scientists working with wearable have begun to achieve critical mass attention and their activities have crystallized into a type of creative practice that merits analysis and an expanded discourse.
Fashions and garment are two terms that are used interchangeably by many people (Christiane 164). The notion of fashion is bound up with the advent of modernism, but modernism itself is a cultural enunciation brought about by technological advancements apparent in industrial production, urbanized society, and mass marketing. This makes fashion, technology, and modernisms terms that are inexorably bound up together (Sung 60).
The history behind smart clothes is dated back to the late 19th century and early 20th century when different authors and artists started writing books and magazines relating fashions with modernism. Throughout the 20th century, many debates were held by many artists discussing the relationship between garments and technology. Some of the clothes were designed during that time were treasured by descendants of the wearers. For instance, in 1930s, there was a development of elastic thread resulting from research which led to the rapid changes in women’s undergarments and eventually in clothes themselves (Siegfried and Silvia 8).
More developments in garments became evident after the second world war when they runway to retail reflected ideas called from science fiction, and delineation of futurist lifestyles, as well as industrialization. Today, garments are design to reflect their technological culture, or their culture attraction to technology. Wearable computing or what is referred to as smart clothes is thought to have begun with Edward in 1961. He used pocket-sized analog computer Thorps to predict results in roulette games in Las Vegas. In fact, smart clothes erupted in the 1990s due to the influence of multiple forces such as technology, inspiration from literature, and mass media.
So it is not surprising that practices involving wearable technology have received little attention all over the world, or even the attention that exists has frequently been directed toward notions about skin and the naked body, and not what is conceived around it.
What is Smart Clothing?
Smart clothing is a form of clothing designed according to technology and it acts like an active device. These are clothes that are able to detect the wearers temperature and to regulate it. For instance, if they detect a hot temperature they release chilled water to keep the body cool. Smart clothes are embedded with electronics to help them function properly. Even though these clothes were introduced quite some time back, they have not been produced in mass quantities and are only available to specific groups of people, for example the military. Many researches have been carried out and scientists are still researching on how smart cloths can be developed to include the properties possessed by computers (Anissimov 1).
For instance, they are intended to have the ability of storing information the same way computers do and be able to manipulate this information as intended. They are also intended to display images such as videos and be used together with internet devices. Other functions of smart clothes include; detection of harmful chemicals that might be in the air, reaction to a bullet, generate power, record what the wearer says and store the information, among others.
Normally, we are used to soft clothing which is flexible and light, however, the smart cloths are hardened by the electronics making them thick and rigid. One does not feel comfortable in this kind of clothes but has to wear them because of their functions.
For instance, the military soldiers do not have a choice when it comes to smart cloths because they have to wear them for protection purposes. The distinction between doctrine and percepts is matched by a distinction between choice and selection: virtue alone is good and choice worthy, but among indifferent matters some could be selected in preference to others. Smart clothes, for instance, are in themselves worthless; but there could be good in the selection of smart clothes. Critics say that a selection could be good only if what was selected was good (Lev 2).
Smart Clothes for Monitoring Health
Smart clothes are made with flexible sensors that are able to sense when one is feeling sick and relay the information to the appropriate people. There was a case cited of an old woman who just woke up in the morning and went about her daily chores. But while she was working, she felt an excruciating pain run through her chest. Not sure of what was happening to her; she tried to reach the telephone to ask for help. However, the pain was too sharp and she fell on the floor even before she could get hold of the telephone; she was suffering from heart attack (ICT Results, “Smart Clothes: Textiles That Track Your Health” 3). As she lay helplessly on the floor, an ambulance arrived and took her to the hospital and the doctors were able to revive her. Were it not for the smart clothes she was wearing, she could have died alone in her house.
This is just one illustration of the importance of smart clothes in the medical field. Smart clothes can be used to monitor patients suffering from heart diseases, and respiratory problems. They are embodied with sensors that are able to detect changes in the body temperature, perspiration, and blood conditions and the same information is transmitted to the hospitals. With smart clothes, a doctor can tell when a patient is in a critical condition and when she is all right even without face to face interaction with the patient (Curone 4). If well monitored, they can reduce mortality rate especially among people who live by themselves.
However, this is an emerging technology and is yet to be exploited. In the countries where they are available, they are normally sold at very high prices making it difficult for the common man to acquire them. But with the government intervention and support, they are some hope and very soon we might own a pair of the smart clothes (Marco 2).
Smart clothes that are designed for monitoring health conditions use different methods; they can use yarn dipped in and covered by nanotubes that are able to conduct electricity. This is a strong material and is comfortable on the body since it is flexible and has the ability to detect changes in body temperature. One of its main uses could be to sense changes in blood, and transmit a signal that the wearer is bleeding (University of Michigan 7).
There is another type of textile that was developed by BIOTEX that is woven into clothes to detect changes in health through body fluid analysis for PH or oxygen levels. These electronic textiles have sensors that receive the fluid, analyze it, and change color depending on the results of the analysis. The change in color is used to denote a health condition (ICT Results, “Smart Clothes for Better Healthcare” 4). There is another type of smart cloth that is almost similar to the one made by BIOTEX; these clothes were made by Health Ware for monitoring respiratory movement, pulse rate, skin temperature, oxygen saturation in the blood.
These clothes give information to the Portable Patient Unit (PPU), which compiles the information into the single unit and then sends it to a central server through a GPRS enabled mobile connection for medical staff to monitor. Another advantage of the smart clothes developed by Health ware is that they have sensors that are transparent, so that the people wearing them are not in a position to see all the wires covering their body (University of South Australia 8).
This creates more comfort, and the wearer’s feel relaxed while wearing them, more so when they know that doctors are constantly monitoring their health. University of Bolton in England developed a special kind of smart clothes that uses an antennae system to pick up changes in heat. This type is used for detecting breast cancer by picking up abnormal changes in heat that are often associated with cancer. However, Busari (3) notes that, this system cannot be depended on fully for detecting cancer because there are other reasons that may cause abnormal heat changes and not necessarily related to cancer.
Smart Clothes and Entertainment
There is a certain type of smart cloth system that has the ability to download data from the clothes and transmit it to a computer located in a special wardrobe. This system was developed by researchers from the University of South Australia. By using this system, user may wear the clothes that have the capacity to record various data, and then hang the clothes for the data to be downloaded to the computer in the wardrobe.
While this is going on, the clothes are recharged for next wearing. Even when washing these clothes, the electronics embedded in them do not get damaged. A wearer can even change into another set of clothing and continue the process of downloading data. They have sensors that can light up to indicate rain or have a built in MP3 player. They can also record speeches made by the wearer which is then downloaded and can be used in the computer for future reference.
These clothes can be worn to certain occasions where the user wants to record all the proceedings of that occasion. They might soon be used in classroom for taking notes. Instead of writing notes from the teachers’ dictation, these clothes have the capacity to record such data which can later be downloaded and stored in the computer.
Smart Clothes in the Future
There are numerous possibilities of smart clothes in the future. Many researches are directed to the medical application although other possibilities are arising. With the ability of smart clothes to light up, sense changes in body temperature, play music, download and store data, and perform other similar functions, the new fashion will change many people’s social life. The military may use smart clothes to monitor the conditions of soldiers in combat as well as for protecting themselves against their enemies. These clothes have the ability to detect bullets and prevent solders from being harmed by them.
By using smart clothes, mothers will be in a position to find their lost children by tracking the location of their clothes. However, the potential applications of these clothes are only limited by imagination and it is up to scientist to prove their actual application (Edward 20).
When they will finally be accepted as a new fashion, smart clothes will act as an excellent concept. However, some people are frightened by the idea that their clothes could soon be able to monitor everything they do or what affect them. While this remains to be true, there need to be some limitations on exactly how much the wearer is being monitored, although the helpfulness of these clothes still takes priority. There is another group of people who are concerned that their bodies will be covered with electronics devices and are afraid of the injury that may result from electrocution.
This implies that, a lot of public awareness has to be done if people are going to accept these clothes (Lou 1). They need to be educated on how the smart clothes work and the benefits they stand to gain while wearing them. Currently, the electronics can be washed while still in the clothes without being damaged. This means that, there is no cause of worry as to whether one can be harmed by these electronics. Smart clothes are receiving much attention currently and a lot of scientists are devoting their time to study more about them and develop this new venture further.
Conclusion
With the advancement in technology, everything is becoming computerized. Internet technology has swept many traditional practices and almost everyone is relying on it. Industrialization has also played a very big part in the current developments and we are yet to see and witnesses more changes. One of the areas that are receiving international recognition is changes in fashions. Things are changing with time attracting the attention of both artists and scientist. The most recent development in fashion is the so called “smart clothes”. The development towards these clothes started in early 20th century when artist started relating fashion with technology.
With this, scientist have taken front sit in advancing this new concept and with it emerged the smart clothes. These are clothes embodied with different sensors for detecting changes in the body and from the surroundings. They can detect changes in the body temperature, respiration, blood circulation, among other things. They have been proved to assist doctors in monitoring their patient and with them many lives have been saved. The future of this new development is promising and more people are getting enlightened on the importance of wearing smart clothes.
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