When talking about wearable technology, the first things that come to mind are health trackers, computerized glasses and smartwatches. However, there is far more going on, especially when we talk about the cooperation between fashion and tech industries. Designers and entrepreneurs are constantly finding bizarre and brand new ways to make the regular clothes we wear smarter without jeopardizing our style. Some of these products are truly revolutionary and useful while others are just plain novelties that don't have much durability. Most combinations of these two are still pretty strange to many people. However, for those who follow current trends, we have picked the three most unusual tech fashion items.
What will happen when you are traveling or out on a business event and your tablet or phone battery dies? You will need an outlet to charge the battery of your device or you won't be able to use it further. This is why a fashion designer from Netherlands, Pauline van Dongen, teamed up with many experts and scientist to create a brand new clothing line – a prototype coat and dress. However, the interesting thing about this piece of clothing is that it will have flexible solar panels which are built into the wear. The coat has around 50 solar cells and the dress has around 70 solar cells which are all flexible.
If any of the two clothing items is worn in the sun for two hours, they can store enough solar energy to fully charge a regular smartphone, says van Dongen. One interesting thing about these items is that the solar cells can be revealed according to your need, as well as hidden away and totally unnoticeable. It may sound like impractical, but the reality is quite the opposite and the clothes don't look bad at all.
If you are a social media junkie and like checking your Facebook all the time, then I suggest taking a look at this thing. Ping is a design coming from Seattle's Electricfoxy, which is a wearables designer firm that started a couple of years ago. What is Ping? Basically, it's a hoodie without sleeves that allows its wearers to connect to their Facebook accounts using a wireless connection. The person wearing this hoodie can use this item to connect to some social network via using a series of different "natural gestures", rather than a typical app.
For example, when using a sensor integrated into the hood, the wearer can receive and send messages by moving the hood up and down. Messages are customizable and can be assigned to a group of people, and the user can also manage different messages based on where he or she is, what mood the person is in, or to whom the message is being pinged. If a certain friend sends a message to the user, he or she will feel a tap on the shoulder as a sign of an incoming message.
You never expected that a bartender or a waitress will wear a dress similar to this one. The DareDroid is a brand new biomechanical dress that makes cocktails. However, there is a catch, and if you want to get a drink, you will first have to play a game with the person who wears the dress. The sensors located around the neck detect the presence of nearby people and allow the system to release non-alcoholic liquid.
If you want alcohol, then you will have to play a game of truth or dear on the touch screen and use your charm to convince the dress to give you more than just soda. This may seem a bit ridiculous, but it has the potential to break the ice and get people to interact with each other, instead of being locked into their phones, so why not?
The future is all about fashion and tech combining their efforts for creating even better and unusual clothing items. Not only that our clothes will look pretty, but they will also have practical applications. The only thing we can do is wait and see what fashion designers and tech experts will come up with in the future.