Generally when wearing a fabric, we think of covering the body and protecting it from the environment, or as a form of personal expression and style. But the future of clothing is about to change in a big way as smart textiles are paving their way through. The textile industry is about to take a giant step from being a supplier of fabrics to becoming a positive force in the development of society. Textile innovations improve people’s everyday lives and benefit the industry, the health care sector and the environment.
So what are these Smart Textiles? Smart textiles are the values added on to a garment/fabric which are able to do things that a traditional/normal fabrics cannot. Smart textiles can be categorized in two different ways; aesthetics and performance enhancement. Aesthetic property examples include lighting or gathering energy on the fabric from the environment such as harnessing vibration, sound or heat and then reacting to these inputs. The Performance Enhancement smart textiles provide a huge impact on athletics, extreme sports and military industries. These fabrics will help to measure and improve body temperature, wind resistance, muscle vibration, or measure heartbeats which in all helps to improve performances. This may also be helpful in saving the lives of many individuals. We often hear news about children, students or a player passing away playing football or soccer due to over exhaustion; this can be halted with the use of smart textiles. The health and beauty industry is also taking advantage of these innovations which range from medical textiles to fabric with moisturizer, perfume and anti aging properties.













