Delivering next-generation smart clothing: Developing safe, sustainable, smart life jacket

Smart clothing integrates wearable technology (sensors, wireless connectivity, flexible batteries) into garments. Smart clothing is driven largely by increasing demand to monitor user data in sports and fitness; however, like the broader textile and clothing industry (one of the most polluting global industries), smart clothing has not yet integrated sustainability into its core design principles.

Furthermore, smart clothing has only reached maturity in relatively simple products (e.g., electrically heated garments). When it comes to smart outerwear/PPE, multiple product concepts have been developed integrating safety features including real-time localisation sensors. Prominent prototype concepts include jackets with integrated GPS such as O'Neill's NavJacket (2008) and Byborre's BB.Suit (2014). However, ultimately, these smart clothing concepts and prototypes are challenging to commercialise since they offer poor durability in real-world applications. To date, it has also proved difficult to manufacture these integrated products at scale.

This project unites two close-to-market technologies - mono-material waterproof breathable textiles developed by Amphibio (UK) and metal-air batteries developed by AZUL Energy (Japan) - to deliver durable, safe, and sustainable next-generation smart clothing/PPE, which delivers performance in use and can be recycled at end-of-life.

Amphibio is developing recyclable waterproof breathable textiles and clothing, which are manufacturable at scale using zero-waste, automated digital 3D knitting. Digital 3D knitting is already commercialised - Uniqlo launched a 3D knitted collection in 2017 and is now using 3D knitting to produce seamless cotton jumpers. However, 3D knitting has not yet been applied to produce waterproof garments since conventional waterproof breathable textiles rely on laminated multi-layer construction, which requires traditional cut-and-sew production. By producing our waterproof breathable textile from a single material, we can use digital 3D knitting to produce high-performance seamless garments. This is important since seams are the most common failure point of any waterproof garment.

Metal-air batteries are receiving significant research attention because they have a high theoretical energy density and are a safer, more sustainable, and readily recyclable alternative to lithium metal/ion batteries. AZUL Energy has developed a green catalyst material for metal-air batteries that offers industry-leading durability and efficiency. Since metal-air batteries have a long battery life and can be produced in a thin-film and flexible form factor, they are ideal candidates for integrating into smart clothing.

With EUREKA GlobalStars Japan support, we will integrate recyclable textiles and innovative wearable technology into a safe, sustainable, smart clothing/PPE demonstrator that delivers on the triple bottom line of People, Planet, and Profit.