Smart textiles are materials that can sense and react to various stimuli in their environment. They integrate concepts from various fields including textiles, chemistry, materials science, electronics, and more. Smart textiles are categorized as passive, active, or ultra smart depending on their ability to simply sense or also adapt and react to environmental changes. Key application areas of smart textiles include wearables, outdoor apparel, automotive interiors, and fashion where they can provide functions like temperature regulation, UV protection, antimicrobial properties, and interactive or changing aesthetics.

1. SMART TEXTILE

2. Smart Textile
A smart textile are materials and structures that sense and react to
environmental conditions or stimuli, such as those from mechanical,
thermal, chemical, electrical, magnetic or other sources.
The technology of SMARTTEXTILES is an integration of almost all
disciplines of applied sciences like:
• v Textilechemistry
• v Fiber technology
• v Clothmanufacturing technology
• v Material science
• v Structuralmechanics and aviation hydraulics
• v Electronics andinstrumentation
v Telecommunication
v Artificial intelligence
v Molecular biology and
organic chemistry
v Molecular engineering
and nanotechnology
v Biotechnology
v Information technology
v Theory of chaosand
randomizations.

3. • Smart textiles, also known as electronic textiles (e-textiles) or smart fabrics,
are textiles that contain electronic components and enhance the features
of wearables, automobiles, and other products. They are either made into
a textile-based product, or created with the intention of being integrated
into a textile.

4. • History of smart textiles
• Here are some key moments in the history of smart textiles. You can read more
here.
• 1600—Early conductive threads are said to date back to the Elizabethan era
when gold threads were woven into garments for a gleaming accent. Now, we
often use silver, or nickel threads for conductivity, but the concept of metallic
threads has existed for centuries for decorating garments.
• 2007—Leah Buechley develops the Lilypad, a microcontroller made specifically
for textiles. (Adafruit later makes its own version called the Flora)
• 2014—Dupont presents their stretchable, conductive ink at Printed Electronics
2014
• 2014—The MIT Biosuit creates a strong use case for e-textile in industry
• 2015—Google’s Project Jacquard directs tech eyes to e-textiles at Google I/O
• 2015-today—Studios such as Wearable Experiments, Interwoven and The Crated
create practices around e-textiles and making invisible wearable tech. Loomia is
born.

5. • Military applications:
Optical fibersensors integrated into textiles:
Fiber optics and sensors:
• The sensors made from optical fibers are small and flexible; they
will not affect the structural integrity of the composite
materials; and can be integrated with the reinforcing fabric to
form the backbones in structures. They are based on a
technology that enables devices to be developed for sensing
numerous physical stimuli of mechanical, acoustic, electric,
magnetic and thermal natures. A number of sensors can be
arranged along a single optical fiber by using wavelength-,
frequency-, and time- and polarization- division techniques to
form 1-, 2 or 3- dimensional distributed sensing systems.
Smart Textile

6. Smart Textile

7. •Aesthetic smart textiles
•Performance smart textiles
• Aesthetic smart textiles
• Because of its capacity to light up and change color, intelligent
aesthetic fabrics are used in the fashion industry. Light-emitting
clothing and bright gowns are typical and commercial applications for
aesthetic, smart textiles.
• Performance smart textiles
Performance enhancing textiles involved in these type.
What are the types of smart textiles?

8. Smart textiles are categorized into three types based on their performance:
passive, active, and ultra smart.
Passive fabrics
• Passive intelligent textiles are the initial generation of smart textiles that
detect external circumstances, such as UV-protective clothing, conductive
fibers, and so on. Because they are merely sensors, passive smart textiles
can only perceive their surroundings.
• Passive smart fabrics sometimes called the “first generation” of intelligent
textiles, have functionality beyond standard ones. However, it should be
noted that passive materials do not typically adapt due to the
information they feel. In other words, when environmental
circumstances change, the cloth remains the same.
• A cooling cloth, for example, may assist in controlling body temperature
but does not actively produce coolness. Because of the structure of the
fabric, it simply aids in the faster evaporation of liquid. The same is valid for
clothing and other items that include UV protection, anti-microbial, and
anti-static features.

9. examples of passive smart textile products:
• Cosmo - A leader in fabrics for footwear, Cosmo utilizes Microban
technology to add antimicrobial properties to their textiles; resulting
in less odor.
• Sunbrella - Sunbrella’s outdoor performance fabrics are treated with
UV-stabilized pigments to help maintain lasting color and durability
under the harsh rays of the sun.
• Herculite - A manufacturer of PVC composite textiles, Herculite fabrics
are made for applications that require a high level of durability, such
as military, healthcare, and marine, using their unique weaving
technology.

10. Active fabrics
• Active smart textiles adapt and modify their functioning in reaction to
changes in the external environment or human input, such as motion
or weather. These fabrics can alter their shape, store and control
heat, and perform other functions.
• While passive textiles depend on their structure, active fabrics rely
on electricity to support actuators and sensors. These actuators and
sensors enable the intelligent material to detect touch and
temperature and analyze and interpret a wide range of environmental
data.
Ultra smart fabrics
• Ultra smart fabrics perceive, react, and adapt to environmental
situations the same way as active smart textiles do, but they go a step
further. Ultra smart textiles are materials that detect, respond,
monitor, and adapt to stimuli or environmental conditions such as
thermal, mechanical, chemical, magnetic, or other sources.

11. • some examples of active smart textiles
• Loomia Electronic Layer - The Loomia Electronic Layer is a soft,
flexible circuit that can enable next-generation products in wearables,
automotive, and beyond.
• HeiQ Smart Temp - HeiQ’s Smart Temp fabric features intelligent
thermoregulation technology that is triggered by the body’s
temperature, and cools the user down as a result.
• Gentherm - Gentherm manufactures a few different technologies,
each with a different purpose. Their ClimateSense® technology is built
on an algorithm that changes the temperature in a vehicle or medical
wearable depending on the user’s unique preferences.

12. Key application areas
• There are several applications of passive and active smart textiles.
However, for the sake of this particular article, we are going to zero-in
on those in wearable technology, outdoor apparel and accessories,
and automotive interiors.
• Passive
• The most common application of passive smart textiles is in outdoor
apparel and medical wearables. We provided you with the example of
a cooling textile already, but these textiles can be used in more ways
than one. Here are some other possible functions of passive textiles:

13. Key application areas
• UV protective - Passive elements, such as optical brighteners and UV
absorbers, are added to fibers to create sun-protective properties.
When used in combination with other technical components, these
materials can be very effective at preventing skin damage and other
related conditions that are the result of sun exposure.
• Antimicrobial - Antimicrobial composite coatings are a popular
commodity in the textile industry, especially in the manufacturing of
activewear. These coatings are effective in preventing the growth of
bacteria that is produced from perspiration. While these coatings may
be saving your clothes, they are certainly not saving the planet. One
would think that the chemicals in the coatings are a concern, but the
problem actually lies in the disposal of these textiles.

14. Key application areas
Active
• Active smart textiles have a wide range of capabilities, and possess many traits
that passive smart textiles do not. As mentioned earlier, active textiles adapt and
change their functionality in response to the external environment. These
materials produce an “action” as a result of the information obtained (think of it
this way: active equals action). The following are just a few examples of what
active textiles can do:
• Thermoregulation - Among the most common applications of active textiles is in
outerwear; specifically, wearables that regulate the body’s temperature. Earlier
this year, we at Loomia produced a heated jacket. Our LEL (Loomia Electronic
Layer) was integrated directly into the garment, providing a subtle, yet
comfortable climate for the wearer. This is a particularly exciting development, as
this technology could one day be used to help the elderly and those with medical
conditions stay warm (and, for a relatively affordable price).

15. Key application areas
• Seat sensing and heating - The automotive industry is, perhaps, the
largest to implement active smart textiles. There are several concepts
currently in the development process, but one that stands out most is
the ability to distinguish a car’s driver by their size and weight
through pressure sensors. However, one application that several of
the world’s largest car manufacturers (and consumers alike) are
particularly fond of is heated seats. Yes, that wonderful setting that
warms your soul after shoveling out your car is a product of smart
textiles!

16. How are smart textiles used in fashion?
Smart textiles in the fashion industry, mainly to provide the garments with an enhanced
aesthetic, improved performance, and interaction capabilities with the environment and
external devices.
Aesthetic
• Aesthetic smart fabrics may light up and change color, feature an interactive aspect, or
alter in response to their surroundings. Fashion designers have already embraced the
new technology, designing whole collections made of intelligent fabrics.
• Textile uses for photochromic, thermochromic, electrochromic, and solvatochromic
materials may be found in fashion and decoration. For example, the company CuteCircuit
develops all kinds of garments to allow self-expression.
• An example of this is The Mirror Handbag, which is constructed of ultralightweight
aerospace aluminum and laser-etched acrylic mirror, which allows the light from the
white LEDs to shine through and produce spectacular animations as display messages
and Tweets.
Performance enhancement
• With an emphasis on function above fashion, performance-enhancing innovative fabrics
provide the user a one-of-a-kind experience based on their intended application. This
includes regulating body temperature, lowering wind and water resistance, protecting
against radiation, and monitoring bodily functions, such as heart rate or muscle
exertion.

17. • To provide sun-protective qualities, passive materials such as optical
brighteners and UV absorbers are added to fibers. When combined with other
technological components, these materials may successfully prevent skin
damage and other associated problems caused by sun exposure.
• A nickel-titanium alloy, used in protective gear against fire and high
temperatures and gives variable degrees of protection depending on
temperature, is an example of a shape memory alloy used in textiles.
• Several firms are working on smart clothing and accessories that monitor and
collect data depending on athlete movements. For example, ReTiSense
created a smart insole for runners to wear in their shoes. The smart insole
may assist runners in improving their form and avoiding injuries.
• And businesses like WearableX and Athos have paved the way for high-
performance sports apparel that provides athletes with added utility.

18. Interaction
• E-textiles may also be utilized to make the most of external devices;
Google’s Jacquard is a prime example of this. Jacquard is a Google-
created wearable technology that has been incorporated into clothes
and accessories.
• Google and Levi’s partnered to create a smart jacket. The capacitive
touch grid that serves as the jacket’s user interface is woven right into
the fabric and can be used to answer calls, play music, snap
photographs, and receive directions with a single motion. And e-
textiles don’t simply make gadgets simpler to operate; they also save
battery power.

19. Examples
• HugShirt – CuteCircuit
• CuteCircuit created the world’s first haptic communications wearable
in 2002, and Time Magazine named it one of the Best Inventions of
the Year in 2006.
• The HugShirt enables you to deliver hugs over long distances. Sensors
record the contact’s strength, length, and position, and actuators
reproduce the sense of touch and the emotion of the hug to your
loved ones.

20. Examples
• SoundShirt – CuteCircuit
• CuteCircuit released the breakthrough SoundShirt in 2016. This
garment uses integrated haptics to enable a deaf person to sense
music.
• The SoundShirt PRO is similar to a HugShirt, except it has more haptic
actuators and can be used for music, hugs, gaming, and access to live
performances at venues with a QPRO system. Because of the added
haptic actuation modules, the SoundShirt delivers more immersive
augmented and virtual reality experiences.

21. Examples
• Mercury Intelligent heated jacket – Ministry of supply
• Mercury dials in your perfect temperature in real-time, thanks to
sophisticated lightweight heating components and revolutionary
stretch insulation.
• An intelligent thermostat responds to your body and surroundings by
managing three lightweight, flexible carbon fiber heating
components. Mercury is designed to protect you from repelling wind,
snow, water, and odors–whatever your travels throw at you.

22. Examples
• Smart socks – Sensoria
• Sensoria provides a comprehensive line of smart clothes for a variety of
activities. Smart socks, mainly, can detect cadence, foot landing, and
impact forces.
• Sensoria’s socks include patented 100 percent textile sensors. They are
coupled with a Bluetooth detachable core that improves precision in step
counting, speed, calories, altitude, and distance monitoring.
• Sensoria may assist runners in identifying injury-prone running techniques
(heel striking, ball striking, and so on) and then uses a mobile app to train
the runner in real-time through auditory cues.

23. Examples
• Smart Shirts – Hexoskin
• Textile sensors incorporated in comfortable clothes for accurate and
continuous cardiac, respiratory, and activity monitoring comprise the
Hexoskin Smart Garments. With the leading Hexoskin Connected
Health Platform, Hexoskin users can see, report, and analyze their
data.
• Hexoskin provides information on your health status, sleep, and
personal daily activities. Hexoskin Smart Shirts are also utilized in
cardiac, respiratory, activity, stress, cognitive, and sleep research and
projects.

24. Examples
• Commuter X Jacquard by Google – Levi’s
• Google teamed with Levi’s to produce and release the Levi’s
Commuter X Jacquard By Google, a Bluetooth-enabled jacket.
• It is engineered for mobility, and city-optimized. It’s the updated
version of the original Trucker Jacket, incorporating careful design
features for active users in the city. This ground-breaking garment
combines 150 years of Levi’s denim creativity and Google
engineering, with conductive Jacquard thread woven in.
• You can control music, screen phone calls, and obtain directions with
a touch of the cuff.

25. Wearable Computing, Smart Garments, and Smart
Textiles
A wearable computer is a computing device that is body worn and, thus, closely
connected to the user. It has the potential of interweaving itself with its users and
their everyday life achieving true pervasiveness. In contrast to mobile devices such
as smartphones, wearable computers are always on, always ready, and always acces-
sible [1]. They do not need to be explicitly switched on but automatically react to
the wearer’s explicit (e.g., a voice command) or implicit (e.g., change in heart rate)
input. There are many different definitions of wearable computing. For example,
Steve Mann defines a wearable computer as follows:
Wearable Computer is a data processing system attached to the body, with
one or more output devices, where the output is perceptible constantly despite
the particular task or body position, and input means where the input means
allows the functionality of the data processing system to be modified.
[Steve Mann]

26. There are two strands of wearable computing devices that need to be distinguished.
First, wearable gadgets, for example, fitness bracelets, or eyewear computers, are
miniaturized computers that can be attached to certain body parts such as the wrist
or head. They provide input and output capabilities as well as connectivity to either
a central device or directly to the World Wide Web. Nevertheless, the user needs to
attach these devices explicitly, may forget or chose not to use the device, and the
device is always an addition to the user. In contrast, smart garments (also referred to
as smart clothing) are clothes which are enriched in functionality through sensing,
processing, and actuation.
Smart garments are particular garments, built—at least in part—using smart tex-
tiles. Smart textile patches are in their base structure related to classic textiles, i.e.,
they consist of woven or knitted fabrics. In addition, however, smart textiles
integrate functionality, e.g., to track a wearer’s postures, gestures, vitals, or provide
feedback.

27. • Van Langenhove and Hertleer define smart textiles as follows:
Smart Textiles are textiles that are able to sense stimuli from the
environment, to react to them and adapt to them by integration of
functionality in the textile structure. The stimulus and response can have
an electrical, thermal, chemical, magnetic, or other origin.

28. Intelligent apparel
The term ‘intelligent apparel’ describes a class of apparel that has supplementary
active functions in addition to the traditional clothing properties. These novel functions
or properties are obtained by the utilization of special textiles, electronic devices or a
combination of the two. Thus, the sweater that changes colour under the effect of heat
could be regarded as intelligent clothing, as well as a bracelet that records the heart rate
of a sportsman during exercise. Intelligent clothing can therefore be classified into
three categories:
• Clothing assistants that store information in memory and carry out complex
calculations.
• Clothing monitors that record the behaviour or the health of the person.
• Regulative clothing, which adjusts certain parameters, such as temperature or
ventilation.

29. Intelligent apparel
Finally, all intelligent clothing can function in manual or automatic
mode. In the case of manual functioning, the person who wears the
clothing can act on these additional intelligent functions, and in the
automatic mode the clothing can react autonomously to external
environmental parameters (temperature, humidity, light).
Various electronic part classifications that can be included in smart
textiles are pre-sented below, according to four principal recurring
topics: peripherals, processing data, connectors and energy. A short
description of these components is provided below, in order to better
understand the objectives of research undertaken at the present
time on the electronics ‘related to oneself’.

30. Smart and Intelligent Textiles
• Introduction to Smart and Intelligent Textiles Lesson
• Smart textiles are fabrics that have been designed and manufactured to include
technologies that provide the wearer with increased functionality. These textiles have
numerous potential applications, such as the ability to communicate with other devices,
conduct energy, transform into other materials and protect the wearer from
environmental hazards. Research and development towards wearable textile-based
personal systems allowing health monitoring, protection and safety, and healthy lifestyle
gained strong interest during the last few years.
• Smart fabrics and interactive textiles’ activities include personal health management
through integration, validation, and use of smart clothing and other networked mobile
devices as well as projects targeting the full integration of sensors/ actuators, energy
sources, processing and communication within the clothes to enable personal
applications such as protection/safety, emergency and healthcare. The purpose of the
course is to train an "Expert for research and innovation in the smart textile sector" by
teaching the essential basics of textile technology and deepening the new development
trends relating to materials, processes, ICT application and markets.

31. Components of Smart Textile System
Smart textiles with sensing and
actuation capabilities have been
produced as a single-purpose textile.
However, certain function building
blocks; may be included in the complete
smart textile system.
• These consist of Sensor,
Actuator, Communication,
Interconnection, Control Unit and
Power supply

32. Functional Materials for Smart Textiles Lesson
In order to turn standards textiles into smart textiles, functional
materials are used. The main ones are
• Conductive Materials
• Responsive Materials
• Fiber Optics Materials
Important attention point for these functional materials is always that
the resulting product must still have a handle that one expects from a
textile product.

33. Fabrication Methods of Smart Textiles Lesson
Several methods are used to integrate the different parts to get a smart
textile structure. As a result, the integrating techniques of these
starting materials differ.
• Conductive or Responsive Compounds
• Conductive or Responsive Yarn or Filament Fiber
• Conductive or Responsive Fabric/Sheet

34. Future Outlook of Smart and Intelligent Textiles
• Prospects of Smart Textiles
• The evolution and development of smart textiles is ongoing. Smart textiles become less
intrusive, more intelligent, and lower cost. Apart from this, there are also some ground
breaking developments.
• Stealth invisible textiles
• The notion of stealth, or operating or hiding in such a way that enemy forces are ignorant
of friendly forces' presence, was originally investigated through camouflage, or the ability
to blend an object's appearance into the visual context. Later, chameleonic camouflages
with a higher hiding function became available.
• Recently, a Canadian business, Hyperstealth Biotechnology, has trademarked materials
that render items invisible to the naked sight. Combining quantum physics and stealth
theory with color-changing adaptive materials could lead to the development of state-of-
the-art invisibility cloak fabrics in the near future, expanding the range of adaptive
polymer applications.

35. • 4D printing
• There are also initiatives to materialize 4D items. 3D printed objects
often have fixed geometrical structures, making them unsuitable for
multifunctional usage. The concept of 4D printing refers to what
happens after 3D printing is completed, i.e., a 3D static structure is
first fabricated and then able to convert or reconfigure into a new
structure in the presence of a stimulus such as light, heat, pH, water,
a magnetic field, or other means, depending on the material used for
3D printing.

37. In its first 3D form, a smaller object is created, which can then expand, flex, or fold out into a larger object in its
secondary form. This allows for the creation of enormous 3D items that would otherwise be too large to fit into
a standard 3D printer. 4D printing may appear speculative, but many academics and labs around the world are
already excited about the promising future prospects of this innovative method. As a result, 4D printing could be
a viable option for creating dynamic structures for smart fabrics. To cope with 4D printing, a thorough
understanding of the chemistry and physics of smart materials, as well as their behavior, is required.

38. • Visionary Textiles
• These are fundamentally engineered biological functions in order to create its own textiles. The
approach might involve the natural growth of genetically engineered conductive strands.
• For instance, boosting metallic mineral absorption in cotton and allowing them to accumulate in
the seed. Cotton could also be treated with metallic nanoparticles throughout the flowering and
boll opening stages. These are purely conceptual ideas that are unlikely to reach commercial
implementation at this time, although a miracle could occur in the future. Those are only
hypothetical concepts at the present, and they are unlikely to gain widespread acceptance. They
do, however, expand the imagination in terms of the level of integration that smart Textiles &
Clothing will very certainly achieve in the future. Examples are
• Self-healing textiles
• Naturally
conductive
fabrics
• Bio-lace