Step up your game with e-sneakers

August 22, 2016  |  Out There

In case you’ve been wondering how you might enhance your Pokémon Go experience, there is a startup company ready to offer you a solution this fall. Vixole is combining footwear and technology to help people step up their Pokémon Go game, with what the shoe company describes as “e-sneakers…
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“Muscle Shirt” responds physically to wearer’s activity

August 5, 2016  |  Out There

The wearable, concept Muscle Shirt, by German designer Simone Schramm, measures the level of athletic performance by detecting the heartbeat with a sensor integrated into the fabric. If physical activity is measured, the fabric contracts, gathering on the back of the shirt. In this way, the wearable…
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LG textile can measure pressure

July 22, 2016  |  Out There

South Korean technology company LG Innotek has developed a concept textile that can be used to measure the pressure on a surface. The material can be bent and folded, giving it a significant advantage over other commercial pressure sensors and making it suitable for use in clothing and accessories. …
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Inflatable Fabric Prism responds to light

July 8, 2016  |  Out There

An inflatable and immersive-color installation in Providence, R.I., called “Fabric Prism” is built around the fundamental properties of light and color. The domed structure, made from an architectural double membrane, was designed and built by Pneuhaus, a design collective based in Providence. …
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High-tech Baggizmo bag incorporates several textiles

June 24, 2016  |  Out There

Sometimes the best ideas “repurpose” existing ones. The new Baggizmo textile bag is a lesson in how to take advantage of the properties of several performance textiles to create an ingenious new product. Baggizmo offers a unique way of carrying your personal items. The carrying bag is organized …
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Robot weaves a carbon-fiber pavilion

June 10, 2016  |  Out There

A new, biologically inspired, carbon-fiber pavilion in the courtyard of London’s Victoria and Albert Museum was woven by … a robot. The installation was designed by architect Achim Menges with collaborators Moritz Dörstelmann, Jan Knippers and Thomas Auer. According to a report on the online de…
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Internet of pants?

May 20, 2016  |  Out There

You may love your fitbit, but one day your clothes could monitor your fitness levels or even boost your smart phone reception. Developed by researchers at Ohio State University, a new technique using ultrathin electronic thread to embroider circuits into fabric could make this possible. Computer Wor…
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Prototype smart skin for robots developed

May 6, 2016  |  Out There

Smart, synthetic skins have the potential to allow robots to touch and sense what’s around them, but keeping them powered up and highly sensitive at low cost has been a challenge. Scientists report in the journal ACS Nano, that a simpler and less costly self-powered transparent smart skin has …
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MAD Architects’ ‘Invisible Border’ at Milan Design Week alters perception of space

April 28, 2016  |  Out There

Italy’s Interni magazine’s Open Borders exhibition, running through April 23, gathers a series of interactive installations, macro-objects and micro-constructions that explore ways of getting beyond disciplinary borders: According to the magazine, the subject addresses an expansion of design vis…
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Nano-enhanced textiles clean themselves with light

April 25, 2016  |  Out There

Australian researchers have developed an inexpensive and efficient new way to grow nanostructures on textiles that can degrade organic matter when exposed to light. The work paves the way toward nano-enhanced textiles that can spontaneously clean themselves of stains and grime simply by being put un…
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