Fashion advancing is taking on a whole new meaning with the advent of smart materials. Trends aside, these fabrics require labs and scientists rather than designers and workrooms, and their debut is far more likely to occur at universities than at Fashion Week.
Nanofabrics is an emerging branch of nanotechnology that deals with the construction of specialized materials. This branch of science introduced active camouflage that conceals the wearer by redirecting light from one side to the other. Nano-fabrics even cushioned Olympic contenders at the 2006 Turin games; most wore impact-hardening suits to protect athletes should they fall to the ground.
Recently, scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology developed clothing that could hear and produce sound. (You’re not reading that wrong, I really said listen up.)
According to the MIT staff, “applications could consist of clothing that are sensitive microphones for capturing speech or monitoring bodily functions, and tiny filaments that could measure blood flow in capillaries or pressure in the brain.”
The long-term applications of these materials go beyond clothing. One day, the application of these fibers could include loose nets that control the flow of water in the ocean and large-area sonar imaging systems. As MIT explains, “a fabric woven from acoustic fibers would produce the equivalent of millions of tiny acoustic sensors.”
Another MIT team is giving the gift of sight to smart fabrics. Led by Associate Professor Yoel Fink, this team is constantly working to develop materials that can capture images. And while these materials pose a whole new challenge for privacy protection, at least soldiers stand to benefit. Vision-weaves may one day give them the ability to see in all directions to identify threats. The light-sensing fibers can act like a flexible camera, attached to a laptop that provides data to a small screen attached to a viewfinder.
On a smaller scale, MIT researchers are developing women’s clothing with sensors that could report assaults on them and store the information in a computer. Drawing inspiration from stories of violence against women in foreign countries, Yoda Patta (PhD student in materials engineering) wanted to present more tools for a victim of domestic violence to present attacks and use that data to recognize increasing abuse. That would not only (hopefully) prompt her to seek help, but also provide an attack file to use in court against the attacker.
Nano-fabrics have even been created for the catwalk. Cornell student Olivia Ong recently unveiled “smart fabrics,” including a jacket and dress made from nanofabrics. Coated with nanometer-sized chunks of metal, these items are resistant to dirt, allergens, and even break down harmful contamination before reaching the wearer’s skin.
Imagine the possibilities for allergy sufferers and cold and flu season if everyone could protect themselves with more than pills and a shot!
While these aren’t the fabrics that grace Project Runway, the application of nanotechnology to textiles is opening a whole new door for truly modern clothing.
