| Abstrakt: |
This article reports on the launch of several textile products based on modern technology at the ITMF Annual Conference held in Dresden, Germany in October 2003. Technology innovations bring movement into the marketplace, and create new rules and new demand. Smart clothing covers textile-based information and communication technology. Intelligent clothing textiles for the sports sector are conceivable, textiles that would enable competitive athletes to optimize their training cycles. Minute electronic component and sensor systems are integrated into the textiles and perform automatic monitoring, control and regulation processes. Polar fluff and seed fibers from poplar trees are being used for heat insulation. An example of a product from the healthcare sector is the LifeShirt marketed by the U.S. company VivoMetrics. The Institute for Intelligent Polymer Research at the University of Wollongong, New South Wales, has developed special knee bandages based on conductive polymers with integrated sensors. Together with the Finnish innovation laboratory Clothing+, the telecommunications supplier Orange has developed the so-called portable telephone, a hands-free telephoning system without ear-plugs. |
