Sales of technology products incorporated into clothing, called ‘wearable’s, will reach 135 million Euros in 2018 in the world, according to augur international experts who will meet in Barcelona next week.
At the meeting, promoted by the Technological Center of Catalonia Eureka, it is planned to analyze the opportunities of this type of technology.
Experts estimate that the opportunities offered by smart and functional clothing and reflective fabrics will drive sales to increase from € 9.7m in 2013 worldwide to only € 5.2m in 2013 – to € 135m in 2018.
The Eureka Center has developed or participated, among other projects, in the creation of prototypes of a heated cycling jersey, a body to prevent lumbar injuries or a shirt that measures vital signs and perspiration.
He has also developed clothes that control people’s emotional reactions, a shoe template with sensors that prevents falls, gloves with solar heaters and a bag that lights with solar energy.
According to a Eureka spokeswoman, Effect explained that this technology center in Catalonia is a pioneer in the world of electroluminescent technology, which allows lighting and flexible objects without the need to focus with light as it does with current reflective elements. Smart textiles, with a demand that reaches 75% in the case of young people who say they want to use technology incorporated into clothing, “offer significant opportunities thanks to the development in the miniaturization of electronic components,” explained the researcher in design Textile Oscar Temuco, coordinator of the meeting.
According to Temuco, “functional fabrics can already be seen, architects and agro textiles, but also in professional clothing or sports applications and in the field of health.” In order for this future to become a reality, according to Temuco, “a great transformation is necessary involving agents from multiple disciplines and levels”, where “innovation must be part of both the production process and the design process or Business models “.
The event, organized by the Dutch embassy in collaboration with ADI-FAD, Eindhoven University of Technology and Eureka, will be attended by experts from the textile world, fashion design or textile and experts in ‘wearable’s or technology applied to the textile sector. The director of the Research and Textile Center of Carnet de Mar (Barcelona), Miguel Solar, plans to present functional fabric capacities, and Eureka Business Director Miguel Rey will share the initiative Reimaging Textile, the collaboration network That connects the main agents to place Catalonia as a reference in this new textile revolution.
According to the experts, “it is a textile revolution, driven by new reflective materials, production processes and channels, proliferation of data, devices and sensors and hyper connectivity.”