Intelligent Clothing Adapts To Changing Temperatures

A new type of ‘smart’ clothing which adapts to changing temperatures to keep the wearer comfortable is being developed by two universities using nature as a guide.
The clothing will use the latest in micro technology to produce material which will let in air to cool a wearer when it is hot and shut out air when it is cold. This is similar to a system used by pine cones to open up and emit seeds.
The University of Bath and the London College of Fashion are jointly researching the material, which they think could be in everyday use by people within a few years.
The smart garments will consist of a top layer of tiny spikes of water-absorbent material, possibly wool, each only 1/200th of a millimetre wide. When the wearer of the clothing gets hot and sweats, the tiny spikes in the material will react to the moisture and automatically open up, so that air from the outside can get through the material to cool the wearer. When the wearer stops sweating, the spikes will close down again to stop air getting in.
The lower layer will be of material that is not porous so that rain can never get through from the outside, whether the spikes are open or closed. The material could have a wide variety of applications and could be used for coats, hats, gloves, shirts, trousers, dresses and skirts.
Read: Press release