twenty1f: fashion for the 21st century

Jürg Ramseier, a ski instructor in the Swiss Alps, hated the helmet he conscientiously wore in front of his students, so in 1999 he set about finding a fashionable alternative that would combine the shock-absorbing armor of a helmet with the warmth and flexibility of a lightweight knit hat. Six years later his company, Ribcap (www.ribcap.ch), unveiled a headgear line designed by Berlin-based Frisch. Unassuming on the outside, the caps are reinforced on the inside with a futuristic rubberlike material called d3o that hardens upon impact.

For his latest collection, Ramseier turned to Thomas Wüthrich and Lisa Besset (www.lisa-tom.com), a young design team based in Basel. “He was looking for someone who could cross industrial and fashion design,” Wüthrich says. “Lisa is a fashion designer; I’m the product designer.” The collaboration produced four versatile styles, which won last year’s Swiss Design Award. (The Billie, named after Lady Day, is pictured below.) Here they delve into the particulars of their novel hats, available through Ribcap in anthracite, cream, red, and olive.

The fabric is half wool, half polyester. We originally insisted on 100-percent wool but were advised that the mix of fibers would be less itchy for people with sensitive skin.

The adjustable strap is attached to an elastic ribbon that runs between the two knit layers. This ribbon was difficult to integrate into the production process because it’s very tricky to sew.

Achieving the right elasticity and strength was essential. The knitting factory, Frilo Swissmade, produced many samples before getting the proper one-size-fits-all stretch.

Producing the d3o mold is expensive, so it was important that we come up with only one shape [shown here] for all the styles. A duplicate panel fits closely around the other side of the head.

The challenge was to cover the head with as few gaps between the protective panels as possible. A small incision was made to allow the structure to stretch and accommodate all head sizes.

Via metropolisMag.

TAGS: d3o, fabric, headgear, helmet, material, protection, shock-absorbing, ski

posted by : regine on 28 Feb 2007

Everyone is talking about Viktor & Rolf Autumn/Winter collection of 2007-2008 presented this week in Paris.

In 20 minutos, mediafax and La Repubblica.

TAGS: collection, fun, light, paris

posted by : regine on 27 Feb 2007

Microscopic chain mail made from miniscule metal links has been made by US researchers. It could ultimately be used to create textiles with sensors and other electronics built in.

Jonathan Engel and Chang Liu at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, made their chain mail using manufacturing techniques borrowed from the microchip industry. First, they deposited a patterned layer of light-sensitive material to create a mould of interlinking gaps. Then they filled these gaps with copper metal. Several repetitions of these steps created the finished links.

They used the method to create a sheet interlocked rings and rectangles. Both types of link are about 500 microns across. The fabric has a similar tensile strength to nylon, can be bent around any shape and stretches to increase its length by one-third. It also readily conducts electricity.

The researchers were motivated to find flexible materials in which electronic sensors could be embedded, Liu told New Scientist. “A lot of work into flexible sensors uses substrates that only bend in one axis,” Liu explains, “we want to be able to have things fully flexible in three dimensions.”

Sensing or heating

The fabric could be used to make smart clothing, says Liu. “We are interested in perhaps using it as a flexible textile or fabric that has properties like sensing or heating.”

It might also be possible to make the micro chain-mail using other materials, Liu says. “We are interested in making it out of polymers or a mixture of conductive and non-conductive materials,” he says. “That research is currently being pursued.”

Microchip-scale electronic components could perhaps also one day be built directly into the links of the chain-mail, Liu says. The manufacturing technique employed should make this feasible. And this would allow sensors, communications or power components to be completely embedded within fully flexible fabrics.

(via eyebeam)

TAGS: chain, copper, electronics, embedded, metal, sensors

posted by : regine on 22 Feb 2007

Astronauts’ spacesuits may one day be covered in motion-sensitive proteins that could generate power from the astronauts’ movement, according to a research conducted by a new lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US. Such “power skins” could also be used to coat future human bases on Mars, where they could produce energy from the Martian wind.

All space missions grapple with the issue of how to produce enough power to complete their goals while minimising the weight of batteries and solar arrays. The Pluto-bound New Horizons spacecraft, for instance, runs on just 240 watts of electricity, provided by heat from the decay of radioactive isotopes. And the International Space Station cannot expand its living quarters until more electricity-generating solar arrays are added (see Space station set for massive expansion).

Biological organisms, on the other hand, are ultra-efficient generators of power. Now, a new Cambridge-based venture called IntAct Labs is investigating how to harness the power-generating capabilities of life for space applications.

They are focusing on a protein called prestin, which is found in the outer hair cells of the human ear. In the cell membranes of these cells, prestin converts electrical voltage into motion, elongating and contracting the cell. This movement amplifies sound in the ear.

However, prestin can also work in reverse, producing electrical charges in response to mechanical stresses, such as tiny vibrations. Each protein is only capable of making nanowatts of electricity, but Matthew Silver and Kranthi Vistakula, both of IntAct Labs, believe that many proteins used together may be able to power small devices or help charge a battery.

In the short term, the researchers aim to prove their concept by using prestin to create a small vibration sensor that can generate a detectable charge.

But eventually, they say networks of the proteins could form ‘power skins’ to coat spacesuits, so that the astronauts’ natural movement would be able to generate power for their equipment. The skins could also wrap around buildings on the Red Planet, where gusts of wind would activate prestin.

To increase conductivity, the researchers say they may even integrate certain types of microbes into the power skins. Geobacter bacteria sprout hair-like surface appendages, called pili, that have been shown to act as nano-wires capable of conducting electricity to an electrode (see Bacterial electronics). Their pili could similarly be used to transfer the electrons generated by prestin through the power skins, says Silver.

Self-healing

Because the power skins are made from biological components, Silver says it might be possible one day for them to grow and heal themselves in space. “First, we want to prove the mechanism works,” he told New Scientist. “But the ultimate goal is to design architectures that harness the ability of biological mechanisms to self-assemble.”

Peter Dallos of Northwestern University in Illinois, US, which patented the prestin molecule in 2003, says prestin may be 10,000 times more efficient at generating power than the best manmade material.

But he thinks developing space applications with the protein may be far in the future. “I don’t really see how they go about it,” Dallos says. “If they have some way of harnessing it, then more power to them.”

IntAct Labs will investigate how to use biological methods to generate electricity with initial funding from the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts, which funds futuristic ideas related to spaceflight.

Other projects the lab is working on include microbial fuel cells that could make power from organic material, such as astronaut waste or plant matter.

Via boingboing.

TAGS: astronaut, ear, energy, hair, motion, organic, power, protein, skin, space

posted by : regine on 18 Feb 2007

Rachel wingfield will be speaking at the ICA (London) alongside Katherine Hamnett, Martin Raymond, Ian Ritchie and Sarah E.Braddock Clarke on the 20th of March for the launch of the “Textile Futures Salone” where they will be debating and answering the question “What is the Future for Textiles?” Please contact Camalo Gaskin for further information tfrg@tfrg.org.uk - Textile Futures Research Group

TAGS: debate, london, research, textiles, uk

posted by : regine on 12 Feb 2007

The purpose of the ‘Sonic Jacket‘ is to record sounds from the environment through which one moves during the day or night. By the end of the day/night a traveler will have a collection of an environmental sound experiences.
Time of the traveling is determining different characters of experience. By the time differentiation are concerned distinct periods of the day and of the night.

So ultimately as a traveler can take pictures of places one will be able to take samples of sounds. A traveler is also able to share these sonic experiences through interaction with other people. Instead of using words traveler is going to use a sound to convey his daily or night activities, impressions and experiences. In this way ‘Sonic Jacket’ becomes a personal instrument of an individual creative expression.

Interaction between a traveler and people from his surroundings is obtained through physical contact. In the moment of interaction a random sound is played. The length of a sound is depending upon the intensity of interaction or the duration of physical contact. Intensity of interaction is depending upon the level of personal relation with the individuals involved in interaction.

Beside a sound as a new level of communication, ‘Sonic Jacket’ is also introducing another way of contact between people. Touch is concerned as a body language that can determine a level of personal contact between two people. As such it can also determine at what level is a relationship between two people. In this sense project is playing with a length of a touch. Length of a touch is determining a level of personal.

A project by Michelle Aoolfs.

TAGS: city, jacket, sonic, sound

posted by : regine on 5 Feb 2007

Underwear that helps women slim or men feel cool and fresh — purveyors of cosmeto-textiles were out in force at Paris’s annual lingerie trade fair on Sunday.

But opinion was divided on whether high-tech fabrics encapsulating slimming agents, perfumes and creams would be a lasting addition to wardrobes or a passing fad.

“There are a lot of brands that have worked on the idea but there has never been a paradigm shift. What interests consumers in the end are fairly traditional products,” said Hubert Lafont, chief executive of Barbara, a French lingerie firm.

Several companies have proved the technology works and can be a commercial success. Others have since abandoned production.

Philippe Andrieu began his company Onixxa in 2003 with just one product — a pair of tights with a slimming agent in them. Now he has over 30 garments, including slimming jeans, under the Lytess trade mark, and annual sales of 4.5 million euros ($5.9 million).

He expects turnover to quadruple by 2009, and said the total market could be worth up to 500 million euros.

“Adidas is coming. Nike will follow and L’Oreal is interested,” he said. “We have proved it works.”

Canadian textiles giant Invista, part of privately held Koch Industries, launched its brand of cosmeto-textiles under the Lycra Body Care trademark two and a half years ago and now has clients around the world, including men and women’s underwear makers and manufacturers of socks and tights.

The textiles — containing aloe vera moisturisers, nutrients derived from seaweed or perfumes — are promoted as making people feel fresh or cool or to help keep skin moist.

“This is all about well-being and emotions rather than providing therapeutic benefit,” said Fiona Paul, an Invista spokeswoman.

Existing cosmeto-textiles contain microscopic capsules of cosmetics that break as the fabrics rub skin, releasing the active ingredients. Invista’s capsules come from International Flavors and Fragrances, while Onixxa’s are made by French group Robert Blondel SA.

The active life of any garment is limited to between 20 and 40 washes, depending on the ingredient, and — so say sceptics — this is the main drawback.

“We don’t promote this product any more. It was our first trial,” said Daisuke Utaka on the stand of La Cle International, a Japanese company that launched a line of panties containing a skin moisturiser derived from rice two years ago.

“We still believe the idea is good but … I don’t think consumers want this yet,” he added.

Blondel chief executive Yann Balguerie expected perceptions to change in three years when European standard-setters have created common rules for the sector, which currently has to comply with both cosmetic industry and textile regulations.

As an interim solution, the French industry — which is getting strong government support — will this month launch a quality label to encourage take up of the technology, he said.

Already others have gone further. An Italian company, BioFarm, was promoting a textile comprising nano-particles of silver that kills bacteria on skin, among other properties.

“The difference between this material and micro-capsules is that it lasts for life and doesn’t release any active substance,” said Marketing Adviser Moreno Cremaschi.

TAGS: cosmetics, fabrics, nano, slimming, underwear

posted by : regine on 5 Feb 2007