Swiss textile firm Forster Rohner is making waves in the textile industry by creating beautiful, and electrically conductive, fabrics. “E-textiles”, as they are being dubbed, are not so new to the fashion industry. Perhaps more than one of us recalls the infamous, and glowing, LED dress that Katy Perry donned to walk the red carpet at the MET Costume Gala back in 2010. Designed by CuteCircuit, the dress featured glowing strands of LED lights that stole the spotlight. However, since then, e-textiles have become much more refined, thanks in part to the family run firm Forster Rohner.
Katy Perry’s LED Dress
Using custom embroidery machines, Forster Rohner can create large production runs of custom “e-broidered” textiles that often include sensors, heating elements or conductors for other electronic components such as LEDs. Unlike the hidden LED strands of Perry’s dress, these e-fabrics are made up of washable conductive yarns that carry along electronic currents.
The subtle, and electric, designs of Forster Rohner
The Swiss firm was one of the collaborators that created the Climate Dress, a dress that monitored CO2 levels and visualized the data in real time with a flickering of lights. Graceful patterns and subtle lights fused technology and fashion seamlessly. Even if one did not know that CO2 levels were dictating the pattern of the dress, one could not help but admire the delicate play of lights.
The graceful CO2 Dress
A vast contrast from Perry’s gown, the CO2 dress shows how forward thinking, technology enhanced e-fabrics can be beautiful. Some are even calling them the new couture frontier. What do you think? Would you wear e-fabrics?
All via Fashioningtech.com
