The first pieces of useful smart clothing will tackle body temperature

(credit: Valentina Palladino)

Most of the smart clothing in the spotlight until now has been fitness-related: socks that monitor running strides, shirts that measure heart rate, and other similar devices. While fitness is an obvious avenue for intelligent garments, some scientists are focusing on a more simple approach to smart fabrics. A recent New Scientist article highlights a number of research groups developing smart clothing and fabrics that "adapt to the environment of the wearer's body" to control body temperature.

These early developments are essentially about comfort, the premise being that a smart shirt could help you stay warm in a freezing office and cool when you step outside of the office into blistering summer heat. The report notes that aside from keeping us covered, clothing "controls air circulation and alters the amount of heat escaping from the body"; researchers are figuring out how they can best manipulate that process to make our clothing work a little harder for us in any weather.

One of those research groups is taking inspiration from squid—yes, squid. A team from the University of California, Irvine headed by Alon Gorodetsky is trying to control radiative heat similarly to how cephalopods such as squid change colors by reflecting visible wavelengths of light. While the group won't give any specifics of its technique, they are developing a similar process for longer wavelengths that carry heat. The team has partnered with Under Armour on this project, which isn't a surprise considering that Under Armour has years of experience in the athletic clothing industry and is also getting into more connected devices with the recent release of its Gemini 2 smart sneakers and HealthBox all-in-one fitness tracking package.

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