A self-heating coat, a “wifi-programmable dress” and two garments featuring films which will enable them to charge electrical devices on the go, form part of a wearable solar fashion collection launched by a Silicon Valley start-up.
Harvard and Cambridge University graduate Kitty Yeung, who is also senior program manager for quantum computing at Microsoft, has debuted her e-textile collection with the help of a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign opened in June, with 5% of the proceeds to be donated to non-profit organizations concerned with promoting science, technology, engineering, arts and math; and environmental protection.
The ‘Lotus’ overcoat and ‘Guilin’ dress in the range feature organic PV films manufactured by French ink and chemicals company Armor which can offer up to 5 V of charge for electronic devices.
Yeung’s start-up, Art by Physicist, said yesterday, the e-textile range is available to order from the company website and items can be shipped from next month. The company said each item will be digitally printed on demand and the flexible organic solar films can be removed and disposed of in the same manner as any other electrical devices.
The full e-textile range also includes customizable LED fabric designs and Bluetooth accessories.
“Now that I have all these different kinds of technologies, the next step for my brand will be to go even further in … production-on-demand by enabling customization,” said Yeung, in a press release issued by Art by Physicist. “In the near future, customers would be able to add the desired technology on the garment of their choice.”
