Fit for purpose? Pattern cutting and seams in wearables development

This paper describes how a group of practitioners and researchers are working across disciplines at Nottingham Trent University in the area of Technical Textiles. It introduces strands of ongoing enquiry centred around the development and application of stretch sensors on the body, focusing on how textile and fashion knowledge are being reflexively revealed in the collaborative development of seamful wearable concepts, and on the tensions between design philosophies as revealed by definitions of purpose. We discuss the current research direction of the Aeolia project, which seeks to exploit the literal gaps found in pattern cutting for fitted stretch garments towards experiential forms and potential interactions. Normative goals of fitness for purpose and seamlessness are interrogated and the potential for more integrated design processes, which may at first appear ‘upside down’, is discussed

Materials and Textile Architecture Analyses for Mechanical Counter-Pressure Space Suits using Active Materials

Mechanical counter-pressure (MCP) space suits have the potential to improve the mobility of astronauts as they conduct planetary exploration activities. MCP suits differ from traditional gas-pressurized space suits by applying surface pressure to the wearer using tight-fitting materials rather than pressurized gas, and represent a fundamental change in space suit design. However, the underlying technologies required to provide uniform compression in a MCP garment at sufficient pressures for space exploration have not yet been perfected, and donning and doffing a MCP suit remains a significant challenge. This research effort focuses on the novel use of active material technologies to produce a garment with controllable compression capabilities (up to 30 kPa) to address these problems. We provide a comparative study of active materials and textile architectures for MCP applications; concept active material compression textiles to be developed and tested based on these analyses; and preliminary biaxial braid compression garment modeling results.United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (OCT Space Technology Research Fellowship Grant NNX11AM62H)MIT-Portugal Progra

TEI '16 Proceedings of the TEI '16: Tenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction

This paper discusses the development of a body-worn interface facilitating the communication between humans and their environment. It seeks to allow the wearer to understand the state of their natural environment through an extended state of embodiment. First, it discusses our motivation for sustainability and the need to change our anthropocentric attitude to a more holistic one that includes the natural environment. Then, it discusses how clothing can be seen as an immediate way of embodiment, and how computational technology and connection to the Internet of Things can contribute to the development of wearable interfaces, which expand our notion of the human body to include our natural environments. It then introduces the BIOdress, a body- worn interface facilitating interspecies communication with a goal to create an expanded network of embodiment. The overall objective is to encourage human empathy beyond the anthropocentric towards more sustainable development