Signature Q4 2008

Experience More@bluetooth.com/signature [R]evolution | By Keith Ferrell | Illustration by Pietari Posti | Q4 ’08 Clothing as technology? Of course! Clothing is technology – and has been since it arrived on our ancestors’ bodies anywhere from 100,000 to half a million years ago, depending on which historian or anthropologist you ask. Unlike many human artifacts, clothing is rarely “built” to last. There’s no Stonehenge of furs, no pyramids of protective garments, though sewing needles made from tusks or bones and dating back 30,000 years have been discovered. But it’s believed that clothing, like most technologies, developed in response to environmental challenges and human needs. Colder climates led humans to adapt animal furs and hides to protect their own vulnerable skins. Huntergatherers not only hunted their food but also gathered apparel from their prey. Agricultural and other work in warmer climates called for cooler clothing, and agriculture itself provided the resources. Cotton, for instance, has been cultivated since at least 3000 B.C.; flax perhaps even longer. The Chinese have been cultivating silkworms and creating silk fabrics for at least 5,000 years. Wool has a similarly long lineage, although it would require the development of sharp shearing blades around 1500 B.C. to make large-scale wool gathering practical. Once our ancestors learned what could be done with cotton, flax, silk and wool, they sought ways to do it better, faster, more reliably. Spinning fibers into yarn and thread is among the oldest of textile technologies, and one which has received near-constant improvement and innovation over the millennia. Sewing and weaving drove technology and were driven by it; the first “modern” factories were textile factories in England in the late 1700s. Punched cards were developed to automate looms, and they are often cited as precursors of calculating machines and computers. Increasingly sophisticated textile equipment worked with increasingly sophisticated materials. In 1935, nylon was developed; by 1940, “nylons” were introduced, and the fabric’s name all but replaced the word “stockings.” The year 1941 saw the fundamental chemistry of polyesters cracked – by 1950, the technology that made nylons possible was being used to create Dacron. Today, polyester is used more widely than any other artificial fiber. Our choices in clothing have never been greater. Apparel reflects our personalities, professions and proclivities – and, increasingly, our technological persuasions. O’Neill, Zegna, Burton and Quicksilver jackets and other wearables let you manage your music and cell phone with built-in controls and a Bluetooth wireless connection. Slip into a Hug Shirt from CuteCircuit to send and receive (and feel) a virtual hug via a Bluetooth enabled phone. Even cultural icons are joining the wearable technology movement. The Bluetooth enabled Charming Burka, designed by Markus Kison, honors tradition by keeping the wearer’s face hidden, yet gives a nod to technology by transmitting a digital image of the wearer to other Bluetooth enabled devices. Imagine what could come next: protective suits that measure and communicate potential hazards in workplace and emergency situations … GPS-equipped clothes that keep hikers and sailors on the right path … games that turn your clothing into wearable game controllers … The possibilities are as endless as clothing itself. Keith Ferrell is former editor of OMNI magazine and has written extensively on business and technical topics. A Fitting Yarn Wearable technology is nothing new. Technology is how we adapt to and express ourselves within the world around us, and we’ve been doing that with clothing since our rise as a sentient species. As time goes by, clothing also reflects the larger world of technology in which we live. Today, and into the future, that can mean Bluetooth wireless wearables. Experience More Bluetooth Special Interest Group | 31 http://www.bluetooth.com/signature

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Signature Q4 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.