From sportswear to children's clothes, outfits equipped with the latest wearable technology are transforming the fundamental functions of clothing.
Imagine a baseball player gets three hits one day, then strikes out four times the next. Why such a difference, you may wonder. But if that ballplayer's innerwear has a built-in transmitter giving his manager and coaches immediate access to his biometric data, the team is likely to field the right players and significantly improve their percentage of wins.
Wearables are new-age clothes equipped with technology like this. Yet they're so light, users don't even realize the technology is there.
Wearables are already in use under many different names, such as powered wear, power-assist suits and muscle suits. For example, they help construction workers lift heavy loads and reduce back strain. They also assist nursing home workers as they move residents from a bed to a wheelchair.
These mechanical suits are more like machines than clothes, so manufacturers of machinery or work uniforms will probably take on both their production and sales.
At the same time, wearables with built-in data devices have the potential to be a savior for struggling clothing manufacturers.
Children's apparel maker Kimuratan Corp. has launched a service in which wearable technology is used to look after children at nurseries. In collaboration with Mitsufuji Corp., a manufacturer of wearable IoT (internet of things), Kimuratan developed a "wearable solution" called Cocolin and began using the system in October last year at Kimuratan Hoikuen, a day nursery it runs in Kobe.
Cocolin wear comes with a sensor to detect the biometric information of the child who has it on. The device sends an alert signal when its algorithm detects any sign of the child becoming unwell.
The same happens when the heat sensor inside the outfit detects a rise in the child's temperature or when the device's acceleration sensor determines the child has been lying on their stomach for a certain duration of time.
Under normal conditions, childminders care for each child at a nursery, but they tend to rely on their experience when making decisions. Kimuratan has apparently received much positive feedback from nursery staff and parents who say the combined use of Cocolin and the experience of the staff makes them feel more secure.
Cocolin is likely to be a boon to the large number of nurseries struggling with a shortage of staff, and to their childminders, who have been burdened with more responsibilities.
Mitsufuji Corp, the producer of Cocolin's smartwear, started out as a manufacturer of obi sashes made of Nishijin-ori fabric in Kyoto in 1956. As the kimono industry began declining, the company set its eyes on silver-plate textiles, which have high electrical conductivity. These textiles prevent odors, including those caused by germs, and block microwave radiation to some extent.
Mitsufuji changed its business model in the 1990s, and then in 2016 transformed itself again into a company that develops wearable IoT solutions completely in-house. It incorporates transmitters, smartphone applications, crowd services and algorithms into outfits made of silver-plate textiles that can obtain the wearer's heartbeat and other biometric data, utilizing the high electrical conductivity of the textiles.
Mitsufuji is now a leading company that has metamorphosed from a struggling textile firm to a provider of wearables.
Kimuratan is planning to gradually expand the Cocolin service nationwide. Cocolin is a good example of a wearable in practical use at a nursery, and such cases are expected to sharply increase from now on.
I wonder if clothes will shed their traditional role of making the wearer attractive to the opposite sex in the near future. The main purpose of clothes may be as a wearable device that collects biometric data. Futurologists may well be drawing such conclusions right now.
Miura is the editorial adviser of WWD Japan.
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