Silicon Valley Fashion Week 2016 #SVFW 2016 - Stain Resistant Fabric, Smart Manufacturing & LED studded fashion wear
By Ananya Panja
Being a hardware engineer for Intel Corporation, I was very excited to attend my first Silicon Valley Fashion Week in San Francisco on Market Street. The location was between Uber and Twitter HQ so I wasn't quite sure what to expect.
It was the final night at #SVFW and when I sat down on the front row, it opened immediately with the bright lights and music on the runway with Constellation jackets and laser cut dragon fly wings by Tenaya Hurst. It showcased the latest in process technology which were capable of physically carving intricate structures like that of a dragon fly’s wing.
Healthcare Wearable
UNYQ showcased their stylist and smart prosthetic which aims at tracking and controlling Scoliosis, a spinal cord condition. They partnered with Intel to create a 3-D printing process which renders beautiful prosthetics with sensors and processors integrated into them. It seamlessly snugs your body and stays hidden under the clothes which increases its aesthetic appeal among patients.
Stain resistant dress
The most interesting part of the show was a stain resistant dress demoed by Jess Martin from Horvath. On the runway, when wine poured on the drain, there was no stain or wetness at all. Now, that’s a smart fabric, that’s really practical!
My Thoughts
The show mostly highlighted the independents and smaller organisations who are involved in the wearable technology industry. I'm not sure why there was a lack of participation by big bigger tech companies who are also in this space. Most of the product demos in the show underlined the emerging nature of this space and while it’s still a few years away from broader market absorption, it was great to see the creativity by the designers in combining fashion with tech on the runway.
This blog was written by Ananya Panja, Hardware Engineer at Intel Corporation. Based in San Francisco, she has a Bachelors in Electrical & Computer Engineering and a Masters in Engineering Management from Santa Clara University. She has been working in the tech industry for 6 years with experience in a wide range of embedded systems ranging from smart watch platforms, Augmented Reality platforms and Flash Memory Storage systems. She is now a Hardware Engineer in wearables for Intel Corporation.
Read our interview with Ananya here.