MNeagle
13th September 2010, 08:18 AM
http://stmedia.startribune.com/images/502*334/2sweat0913.jpg
High-tech T-shirt reveals a message when the shirt is sweaty.
New "smart" clothes promise to burn calories and evaporate sweat. Next up: tracking your pulse.
By RAY A. SMITH, Wall Street Journal
A new wave of fashion-forward clothing is giving new meaning to the phrase "body-conscious."
It's made with new fabrics that sense and respond to physical changes in the body. A line of athletic apparel displays slogans such as "I Am the Competition" when the wearer breaks into a sweat. Uniqlo has launched a line of "calorie-burning" underwear. Another company is creating suits with linings that wick away sweat and prevent odor.
Other researchers have developed fabrics that can monitor vital signs. The quest for so-called smart clothes that react to changes in the body "is a fast-growing area of research" in the performance-fiber field, says Tushar Ghosh, a professor at North Carolina State University's College of Textiles. Professors and students there, in research funded by the National Science Foundation, are working on developing fabrics with sensors that can track changes in blood pressure, pulse rates and other signs of stress, as well as signs that a wearer is falling down, Ghosh says.
Many of the latest fashion brands simply aim to make fashion more comfortable. A new suit manufactured by Bagir Group of Israel contains a lining that the company says will wick away and evaporate sweat, as well as eliminate odors. On this lining, says the company's U.S. spokesman, Timothy Danser, the sweat "beads up and rolls away." A separate chemical in the lining controls odors.
While most athletic and other clothes that offer moisture-wicking features have generally been treated with a chemical after the garment is made, Bagir is embedding the technology in the fibers of the fabric.
The suit, which Danser says is also waterproof, will retail for $495. Bagir says it is in discussions with Brooks Brothers to carry the suits. Brooks Brothers declined to comment.
http://stmedia.startribune.com/images/208*138/4sweat0913.jpg
Muscle-toning underwear
Another innovative fabric is used in Uniqlo's calorie-burning T-shirts and underwear. The Japanese retailer, which launched the line in May, says the tight-fitting garments apply resistance to the wearer's muscles in certain spots, forcing the person to put forth more effort to walk. Plastic dots and lines running down the lower back and bottom create slight pressure that is meant to improve the wearer's posture. Boxers and T-shirts in the line cost about $17, slightly more than most of Uniqlo's underwear products.
The line, developed with fiber company Toray Industries and the University of Tokyo, is sold only in Japan, but a spokeswoman says U.S. Uniqlo stores will carry it soon.
A more intense workout is also the goal of ViewSPORT, a T-shirt line launched in July that displays graphics when the wearer perspires. A chemical in the fabric responds to sweat by causing an invisible graphic on the front of the shirt to become clear.
"The whole point is to demonstrate how hard you are working out," says Ben Wood, ViewSPORT's chief executive. The company declined to reveal the chemical workings, citing a pending patent application. It hopes to attract stylish teens who like graphic T-shirts and might dance hard at a club or party.
Laura Klein, of Pittsford, N.Y., wears a shirt and tank top from ViewSPORT to her spinning classes.
"It keeps you motivated," she says. "You want to see the design." Other gym members have asked her where she got the shirt, she says. In one Pilates class, "they made me kind of stand and model the shirt," she says.
Many of these novel ideas might seem wacky at first glance. But there was a time when consumers thought clothes that promised to resist stains and wrinkles and eliminate odors were strange. Those kinds of features are now almost commonplace in sporting apparel as well as ready-to-wear.
Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. says its suits made of wool that pulls excess heat away from the body have been successful, and the retailer has expanded the technology into shirts and casual clothing. Brooks Brothers says that every spring it sells several thousand of its suits made of polyester fiber designed to move moisture away from the body.
Men like changes better
It isn't clear how well the newer technology-enabled products will fare at a time when the apparel industry is struggling. Men are generally earlier adopters than women when it comes to technology, and that applies to performance fabrics, as well.
About 70 percent of the men surveyed by market researcher NPD Group say they have used wrinkle-free clothing products, up from about 60 percent five years ago, says Marshal Cohen, NPD's chief industry analyst. The percentage of men who have worn clothing with moisture-management technology has doubled in the same period. For women, Cohen says, "the only place [interest] shows up is in sports apparel and stretch for things like jeans."
Indeed, high-tech clothes haven't come without glitches. Consumers have complained about the chemically treated fabrics feeling stiff and uncomfortable. Also, because wicking and odor-fighting properties have long been sprayed onto fabrics, the performance benefits often rinsed off over time with repeated washings.
Ingrid Johnson, a professor of textile development and marketing at the Fashion Institute of Technology, recalls the Hypercolor line of clothing from the 1980s and early 1990s, which changed colors wherever the wearer's body got warm. The problem: Sometimes underarms and private parts got warmer and were highlighted by the clothes.
"It was a mess," she says.
http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/health/102658339.html?page=1&c=y
High-tech T-shirt reveals a message when the shirt is sweaty.
New "smart" clothes promise to burn calories and evaporate sweat. Next up: tracking your pulse.
By RAY A. SMITH, Wall Street Journal
A new wave of fashion-forward clothing is giving new meaning to the phrase "body-conscious."
It's made with new fabrics that sense and respond to physical changes in the body. A line of athletic apparel displays slogans such as "I Am the Competition" when the wearer breaks into a sweat. Uniqlo has launched a line of "calorie-burning" underwear. Another company is creating suits with linings that wick away sweat and prevent odor.
Other researchers have developed fabrics that can monitor vital signs. The quest for so-called smart clothes that react to changes in the body "is a fast-growing area of research" in the performance-fiber field, says Tushar Ghosh, a professor at North Carolina State University's College of Textiles. Professors and students there, in research funded by the National Science Foundation, are working on developing fabrics with sensors that can track changes in blood pressure, pulse rates and other signs of stress, as well as signs that a wearer is falling down, Ghosh says.
Many of the latest fashion brands simply aim to make fashion more comfortable. A new suit manufactured by Bagir Group of Israel contains a lining that the company says will wick away and evaporate sweat, as well as eliminate odors. On this lining, says the company's U.S. spokesman, Timothy Danser, the sweat "beads up and rolls away." A separate chemical in the lining controls odors.
While most athletic and other clothes that offer moisture-wicking features have generally been treated with a chemical after the garment is made, Bagir is embedding the technology in the fibers of the fabric.
The suit, which Danser says is also waterproof, will retail for $495. Bagir says it is in discussions with Brooks Brothers to carry the suits. Brooks Brothers declined to comment.
http://stmedia.startribune.com/images/208*138/4sweat0913.jpg
Muscle-toning underwear
Another innovative fabric is used in Uniqlo's calorie-burning T-shirts and underwear. The Japanese retailer, which launched the line in May, says the tight-fitting garments apply resistance to the wearer's muscles in certain spots, forcing the person to put forth more effort to walk. Plastic dots and lines running down the lower back and bottom create slight pressure that is meant to improve the wearer's posture. Boxers and T-shirts in the line cost about $17, slightly more than most of Uniqlo's underwear products.
The line, developed with fiber company Toray Industries and the University of Tokyo, is sold only in Japan, but a spokeswoman says U.S. Uniqlo stores will carry it soon.
A more intense workout is also the goal of ViewSPORT, a T-shirt line launched in July that displays graphics when the wearer perspires. A chemical in the fabric responds to sweat by causing an invisible graphic on the front of the shirt to become clear.
"The whole point is to demonstrate how hard you are working out," says Ben Wood, ViewSPORT's chief executive. The company declined to reveal the chemical workings, citing a pending patent application. It hopes to attract stylish teens who like graphic T-shirts and might dance hard at a club or party.
Laura Klein, of Pittsford, N.Y., wears a shirt and tank top from ViewSPORT to her spinning classes.
"It keeps you motivated," she says. "You want to see the design." Other gym members have asked her where she got the shirt, she says. In one Pilates class, "they made me kind of stand and model the shirt," she says.
Many of these novel ideas might seem wacky at first glance. But there was a time when consumers thought clothes that promised to resist stains and wrinkles and eliminate odors were strange. Those kinds of features are now almost commonplace in sporting apparel as well as ready-to-wear.
Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. says its suits made of wool that pulls excess heat away from the body have been successful, and the retailer has expanded the technology into shirts and casual clothing. Brooks Brothers says that every spring it sells several thousand of its suits made of polyester fiber designed to move moisture away from the body.
Men like changes better
It isn't clear how well the newer technology-enabled products will fare at a time when the apparel industry is struggling. Men are generally earlier adopters than women when it comes to technology, and that applies to performance fabrics, as well.
About 70 percent of the men surveyed by market researcher NPD Group say they have used wrinkle-free clothing products, up from about 60 percent five years ago, says Marshal Cohen, NPD's chief industry analyst. The percentage of men who have worn clothing with moisture-management technology has doubled in the same period. For women, Cohen says, "the only place [interest] shows up is in sports apparel and stretch for things like jeans."
Indeed, high-tech clothes haven't come without glitches. Consumers have complained about the chemically treated fabrics feeling stiff and uncomfortable. Also, because wicking and odor-fighting properties have long been sprayed onto fabrics, the performance benefits often rinsed off over time with repeated washings.
Ingrid Johnson, a professor of textile development and marketing at the Fashion Institute of Technology, recalls the Hypercolor line of clothing from the 1980s and early 1990s, which changed colors wherever the wearer's body got warm. The problem: Sometimes underarms and private parts got warmer and were highlighted by the clothes.
"It was a mess," she says.
http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/health/102658339.html?page=1&c=y