Technology consultancy Cientifica brings reveals how smart textiles are creating a fourth industrial revolution for the textiles and fashion industry. Recently they have reported that it is expected to be worth more than $130 billion by 2025. Cientifica founded as CMP Cientifica in Madrid in 1997 to meet advanced analytical needs of the European Space Agency, says the rapid adoption of smart textile technologies has the ability to make the current generation of wearable from Apple and Samsung quickly obsolete while providing significant opportunities in the sportswear market.
Instead of attaching a sensor to a garment, the sensor is increasingly the garment itself, providing significant opportunities in health and well-being, sports, medical monitoring, fashion and entertainment. The report tracks more than a hundred the leading companies in a sector predicted to show triple digit growth. It also examines issues ranging from data acquisition to energy storage and generation.
The rise of textile wearable also represents a significant opportunity for manufacturers of the advanced materials used in their manufacture. Toray, Panasonic, Covestro, DuPont and Toyobo are said to be already supplying the necessary materials, while researchers are creating sensing and energy storage technologies, from flexible batteries to graphene super capacitors which will power tomorrows wearable. The report details the latest advances and their applications.
