Smart clothing is locked and nurturing new market fabrics affects popularity
The list of companies involved in the field of smart clothing is getting longer and longer.
According to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Japanese chemical manufacturer Asahi Kasei announced that it will launch smart clothing that will be able to obtain human body information as soon as possible in the summer of next year.
Setting this goal, Asahi Kasei holds two cards: the conductive fiber product developed by himself and the advantage of the US subsidiary Zor (ZOLL) in the field of medical equipment. The latter mainly produces emergency equipment such as life jacket type automatic external defibrillator. .
Zor is currently developing the flexible conductive fiber "Roboden" developed by Asahi Kasei for the manufacture of life jackets and the use of automatic external defibrillators based on human body information such as electrocardiograms. As a result, Asahi Kasei's smart clothing is more suitable for first aid and disease management.
Focusing on health and medical care is the most important research and development direction and function setting of smart clothing.
Behind Asahi Kasei's investment in smart clothing, Japan's domestic fiber market is saturated, and major fiber manufacturers are looking for new sources of revenue. Smart clothing is locked into a new market that can be nurtured.
Data from the survey company DataResource shows that the smart clothing market will be 10 billion yen in 2015; in 2021, the market size will expand to around 400 billion yen. According to the US information technology consulting firm Gartner, smart clothing shipments in 2013 and 2014 were almost zero.
In addition to Asahi Kasei, Japanese chemical materials company Toray, Japanese fiber company Kurashiki, and Toyobo are also involved. At the forefront is Toray.
Toray and the communication operator NTT jointly developed a new fiber material "hitoe" that can read the weak electrical signals on the human body surface, and can monitor the human heart rate for 24 hours. The service for the production of this fiber has been launched, mainly for sporting goods companies, which need to measure the load of workers in high-temperature environments, and hospital sales.
The smart clothing of Kurashiki and Toyobo is still in the experimental stage. The former began to cooperate with companies in the transportation industry to conduct verification tests for anti-heatstroke products from May. Similarly, the latter developed a film product "COCOMI" made of conductive materials and resins, and is also a functional test to prevent bus and truck drivers from dozing off.
In fact, the emergence of smart clothing is closely related to the increased awareness of consumers' health movements. In the past few years, sports brands have introduced smart clothing that monitors health data such as heart rate, blood pressure, trajectory and muscle activation in order to better fit this trend.
Nike has launched the Nike+ series of intelligent equipment very early, and Adidas' miCoach has also been applied to professional football training. UnderArmour's founder Kevin Plank also made it clear that the company's future two major directions include smart sportswear for high-end users, as well as fitness information and data platforms for the average consumer.
At the 2014 US Open, American apparel brand Ralph Lauren also unveiled its first smart wearable device, ThePoloTechShirt. The fabric of this product contains a silver wire component with a Bluetooth sensor that senses the user's heartbeat, calculates the amount of exercise and calorie consumption, and synchronizes to the iOS system. A year later, the brand began mass production of ThePoloTechShirt for $295, mainly for mid- to high-end sports enthusiasts.
Smart clothing is locked into a new market that can be nurtured by Japanese companies to join the ranks of development (Figure 2)
Ralph Lauren's smart sportswear ThePoloTechShirt (Source: Ralph Lauren's official website)
There are also businesses that set the direction of smart clothing research and development outside of medical care and sports. Last summer, Google and clothing brand Levi's teamed up to create a smart denim jacket that enables call play, smart navigation and more.
Smart clothing is locked into a new market that can be nurtured by Japanese companies to join the ranks of development (Figure 3)
A smart jacket created by Google and Levi's, the cuff button can be used to answer the phone (Source: Levi's official website)
The comfort of the fabric, the perfect function of the fabric, whether the clothes can be repeatedly washed and repeated, and whether the price is “close to the people†is a key factor affecting the popularity of smart clothing.
We have reason to believe that with the participation of more and more related companies, the development speed of smart clothing will be effectively promoted.
Editor in charge: Gao Wei
YANGZHOU PENGYOU TOURISM SUPPLIES FACTORY , https://www.yzpengyou.com