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Wearables and sustainability fashion

Actualizado: 23 oct 2019


 



SUMMARY

June 10, 2019

 

Did you know this way of dressing?


I imagine that some of the latest technology you have, so imagine if you wear it on your garment! WOW, because if

fashion and technology go hand in hand, some designers are making themselves felt in their creations.

A new way of technology in dressing or wearables, is made hollow in cabinets of people more chic than geek.

Gone is a conventional way of dressing, we give way to garment designs with more innovative features to make life easier.

The brand www.machina.cc of Mexican origin created by Linda Franco and Antonio Perdigón. His degree of attention without even knowing the gadgets that hide between their seams give a futuristic and attractive result.

It is a waterproof garment that communicates with digital music and computers, allowing you to control them and make music through movements and various buttons.




INTRODUCTION


 

Macro trends


The question is: within all this innovation ... what role does sustainability play? "Although there is still a lot to be done,

the companies in the sector are constantly working on the research of alternative products and processes that are more sustainable with the environment," says Vicente Blanes, director of the Textile Technology Institute (AITEX), dedicated to research and application in the textile industry.

They work with a firm the size of Mango, so Blanes knows what he is talking about and is aware of the impact that the manufacture of, for example, a mere shirt, has on the

environment. "The textile industry has an infinite number of processes up to the point of making the final garment”.

We can be found from companies producing fibers, spinning mills, weaving, dyeing and printing companies and companies that make the final product. At all stages of

manufacturing, a series of specific environmental pollutants are generated that require special treatments such as water and energy consumption reduction processes, the substitution of less harmful chemicals or the use of fibers with less environmental impact ", explains Blanes.




INNOVATION


 


Constancy to reach the objective


In a sector that is particularly aggressive with its surroundings, if processes are not controlled, which not only come from producers and manufacturers, technological innovation plays its part in favor of sustainability.


Did you know that the country with the highest activity of textile factors, committed for the first time? Although it sounds strange, it was a milestone that he will invest in his factories to incorporate cleaner technologies, as well as in more rigorous management measures. In the past Planet Textiles De Shanghai was where the Chinese government got engaged. Although it is early to see the results, it is a step in this environmental direction.


"Sustainability, increasingly, is a priority on the agendas of fashion firms," confirms Lorenzo Bautista, from the textile R & D department of the Leitat technology center, which works with several companies in the sector to “transform technological challenges in economic and social value” ». One of his most recent projects focuses on the first phases of the manufacturing process of a garment: specifically, the total recovery of wool by-products.


"It's about recycling the waste generated by the treated raw material and then giving it other uses and having no impact on the environment," explains Bautista. Among the different components, they manage to recover, through an innovative washing system, the lanolin, for example, "which has a high market added value as a raw material in the cosmetics sector; We also recycle wool powder, which is a good fertilizer “,the researcher reports.


Information about the article by Luis Mayer.




MACRO TRENDS


 


The smart clothing revolution


The price of smart clothes will fall

"when the big brands start using

technology to give their garments

utility, probably two years from now".

But for Virginia García, director of the

Functional Tissue Unit of Eurecat, it is difficult for these garments to reach mass consumption: "Technology must evolve a lot so that the large scale textile sector is capable of assuming it, the costs are equivalent and the person gives equal to buy it with or without technology ". García argues that the garments that can succeed are those that do not need a battery and do not change the appearance of the garment. The sector and materials have evolved a lot in recent years: "The sensors were much bigger 10 years ago. Now you just notice that you have technology. That's the great leap of textile wearables: to wear them and not be aware that you're wearing them. "


The main barrier to intelligent clothing triumphs is the price.


Information: https://elpais.com/tecnologia/2018/03/27/actualidad/




INTELLIGENT FASHION


 

Saúl Baeza, co-founder of the fashion

firm The Hunch Project, specialized in

industrial design, has created collections modifying conventional fibers such as wool for the manufacture of smart garments. For

its part, the Dutch designer Marina Toeters, directs the Solar Fiber project, with the development of garments capable of capturing and reproducing solar energy. "The difference in the production of smart

fashion is that we place the consumer at the center of the production process since we intend

to satisfy their needs," Toeters adds. And who are the possible consumers? They are among the Millennials and Generation Z, they are the ones who live and know the most about technologies, they interject ideas, opinions through online and offline, fashion use it to

differentiate themselves, be different and unique, although there is a difference of status between them for now.

Other textile alternatives as well explained in the article https://www.slowfashionnext.com


Its most interesting, and modest, advances are those that seek solutions to the problems in the production chain of the textile industry. From fabrics made from algae and clothing that detects the level of pollution to the communication between creators and consumers through audio-visual experiences, NJAL (Not Just A Label) investigates the revolutionary achievements that improve the integrity of fashion.


http://www.ecouterre.com/meet-herself-the-worlds-first-air-purifying-dress/


"At some point in the not too distant future, biotechnology is going to offer the world of design

the largest collection of materials and tools with which I have ever experienced," says Amy Congdon.

There is no ingredient that can resist the veteran textile designer and Senior Design Researcher of Biocouture. His biological atelier explores the application of living cells in the production of new materials for a hypothetical future in 2080. Imagine ivory jewelry made

in a sustainable way in a laboratory, for example. "There are companies that aim to eliminate the animal completely from the process," adds Congdon, referring to Modern Meadow, the first real leather in the world designed without animals. What may seem like science fiction is actually very possible. Certain bio-fabrics are already about to be available in the market. The German brand QMilk offers material produced with milk that not only uses 100% renewable sources and 0% of chemical additives, but also uses only 2 liters of water for each kilo of fiber it produces (the global average per kilo of cotton is currently 10,000 liters). Meanwhile, Campers and Puma have produced prototypes of shoes and accessories using pineapple leather, and Mayal Saliba, from NJAL, exhibited this year the first garments made with him on

the GreenShowRoom catwalk at