What do lightweight military uniforms integrated with comms equipment, piezo-electric yarns, and clothing complete with sensors for physiological monitoring, have in common?
Other than the fact that they all sound like something straight out of sci-fi, all of these futuristic fabrics are not only possible but available, thanks to smart textiles.
Smart textiles, technical textiles, interactive textiles—all these names refer to fabrics with electronic components incorporated in them, for use in various applications such as monitoring, illumination, sensing and communication.
These newfangled textiles are being developed for use in various industries as varied as military and protection, architecture, sports and fitness, transportation, fashion and entertainment and medical, which is contributing to a CAGR of 18.20% in the global smart textiles market.
But as much as the prospect of integrating electronics into fabrics is pretty exciting, the technology is still in the early stages of development and is experiencing the growing pains that accompany any new technology.
Technavio analysts have identified the key drivers and challenges that are playing tug of war with market growth in the global smart textiles market.
Miniaturization of electronic materials
Miniaturization of electronic materialsQuite simply, miniaturization of electronics make wearable systems more feasible. It allows electronics to be easily integrated into the core yarn of textiles.
Ensuring consistent power supply
Ensuring consistent power supplyProviding efficient and consistent power for wearable materials is a big issue for manufacturers in the market, which is threatening market growth. Conventional batteries can be used to supply power, but they get bulky. Manufacturers are now looking more to circuits made from organic electronics as they are flexible, lightweight, strong, and relatively cheap to produce.
Rising demand from transportation sector
Demand from the transportation sector is actually a big growth driver for the smart textiles market. Fabrics can be used in air bags, to reduce the weight of body parts, in hoses, headliners, upholstery, for decoration and for advanced safety features.
High production cost
Smart textiles are more expensive than other textiles. The R&D dollars that go into making the fabrics, coupled with advanced electronic components drive up the price, making them inaccessible to some vendors.
Growing demand from sports sector
Athletes are a major end-user in the smart textiles market. This consumer group is constantly striving to improve their performance, and a big part of this now involves collecting and storing data for analysis. Lightweight equipment that help collect and analyze physiological data is essential, and smart textiles are key to developing this.
Smart textiles are used for protective equipment in extreme sports to help reduce risk, while not taking away from the thrill of the sport. Overall, the new textiles are adding value to the sports sector by combining utilitarian functions with sportswear, which helps to achieve higher performance levels.
Incompatibility of manufacturing practices
Traditionally, the textiles and electronics sectors have not worked closely in tandem, and this has led to some incompatible manufacturing practices between the sectors, and a lack of understanding of product requirements are hindering market growth. More collaboration between the two sectors is required if significant advances are going to be made in smart textile technology.
