Smart Fabrics - Future of Fashion?, London June meetup
Photo credits: CuteCircuit, Lauren Bowker (The Unseen), IEEE.
High quality fabrics that last a long time are hard to find these days. Many garments only last a few washes. Whether for performance or aesthetic reasons, the focus within the textiles orb is on smart fabrics – from those that change their hue to those that regulate body temperature. Researchers are developing smart fabrics that do things that traditional fabrics cannot.
Fabrics interwoven with technology are becoming a reality. In the future, likely to be 5 to 10 years away, smart clothes will monitor our health hand help keep us stay healthy and fit.
Project Jacquard, run by Google’s Advanced Technologies and Projects unit, weaves technology into fabric to give it conductive and interactive properties. Google has collaborated with Levi’s on a smart jacket that will enable cyclists to brush their fingers on the fabric of their jacket to check the time or play their music. Last year, University of Manchester’s National Graphene Institute produced a dress in collaboration with wearable tech company CuteCircuit. The dress is made with a fabric that has “wonder material” graphene which causes the dress to change color according to the wearer’s breathing patterns. (source: Wearable Technologies)
With all this in mind, for our June event we brought together founders, researchers and technologists to discuss topics of smart textiles, fashion tech, wearables and all in between.
Event was hosted at our partners and sponsors MHPC Communications offices in central London.
Some of the awards MHPC got over the years
Our panelists were:
Veronika Kapsali is an academic and industrial research specialist, author, broadcaster and communicator of Biomimetics and Design led approaches to Innovation. Veronika is a Reader at the London College of Fashion in Material Technology and Design and is regularly invited to speak at international conferences, symposia and has several publications on Biomimetic applications, while her work in biomimetic textiles has received significant media attention. She is the co-director of MMT Textiles Limited and inventor of INOTEK TM, a biomimetic fiber based textile technology that uses moisture in clothing microclimate to create a mechanical response for advanced moisture management. Her specialist area is design of programmable materials, structures and systems. In November 2014 she won the ITMA Future Materials award for INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR.
Brooke Roberts-Islam is an award-winning digital knitwear designer and consultant who recently co-founded the Brooke Roberts Innovation Agency (BRIA). Following a previous career as a diagnostic radiographer within the NHS, Brooke used inspiration from scan images of the brain to create knitwear using the latest digital knitting technology and yarns. She subsequently gave a TED talk explaining how she combined radiography and knitwear design in her clothing range. In addition to her design and materials development work, Brooke is a "fashion-tech" and sustainability writer for Forbes.com, the Huffington Post UK and Techstyler - a publishing platform she founded - sharing opinions and interviews from the crossroads of these sectors.
Myra Waiman, a born and bred Londoner, became a serial startup investor via a long route. Trained at Imperial College in the 70s, she worked as a research biochemist in several high profile London labs, including Hepatitis Vaccines for Dame Sheila Sherlock and IVF research with Professor Robert Winston. This sparked her interest in commercialising cutting edge science. She moved into fundraising for universities and from there into university science spin-offs. In one such spin-off she met David Lussey, working on new conductive inks, initially used in smart screens but also in textiles. Her lifelong love of fashion has encouraged her to work with David bringing his smart textile invention into commercial reality. She is a founder and CEO of Infi-Tex, a unique smart textile, that works like a sensor but acts like a fabric.
Melissa Coleman is an artist, curator and creative technologist specialised in fashion tech and connected objects. In her art and exhibitions she critically explores the relationship of fashion, politics and technology. She exhibits worldwide and her work has been covered by New Scientist, Wired, The Guardian, Vogue, Fast Company and Dezeen. She's co-founded Rotterdam’s V2_E-textile Workspace and London’s E-Stitches meetup at the LCC.
Event was moderated by Marija Butkovic, founder and CEO of Women of Wearables. Marija is digital marketing and business consultant who has worked across a range of projects in different industry sectors, including legal, journalism, tech, IoT, wearable tech and fashion tech. She is a founder and CEO of Women of Wearables - first global organisation aiming to support, connect and mentor women in wearable tech, fashion tech, health tech, IoT and VR/AR. In 2017 and 2018, Marija was selected as one of the Most Influential Women in UK tech by Computer Weekly. She currently collaborates with startup accelerators and incubators in London and worldwide on delivering help as a startup mentor and advisor. She is also a STEM ambassador.
Many thanks to our sponsors MHP Communications for providing us with the venue, food and refreshments for the evening and to LIDPublishing for providing us with their books for our giveaway!
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If you’re interested in speaking at or sponsoring our events and meetups, then get in touch via email at hello@womenofwearables.com.
This blog was written by Marija Butkovic, Digital Marketing and PR strategist, founder and CEO of Women of Wearables. She regularly writes and speaks on topics of wearable tech, fashion tech, IoT, entrepreneurship and diversity. Visit marijabutkovic.co.uk or follow Marija on Twitter @MarijaButkovic @Women_Wearables.