As well as a touchless control system for wearables, Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) group is working on wearables – in more a fashion sense than technical, by introducing interactive textiles under the project name ‘Project Jacquard’.
The project aims to incorporate touch sensors into the very fabrics of our clothing, to allow you to control devices, or inputs with a touch from your jacket, curtains in your house, or even from a lounge, basically anywhere you have a surface using fabric.
The interactive textiles feature a thin metallic core with an outer weave of silk, wool, cotton or any number of natural, or man-made fibres encapsulating it.
Project Jacquard has come a long way, from a single Grey coloured thread option, to now be available in as many colours as you, or a designer could want. The team at ATAP has worked to make the fibres from Project Jacquard able to be woven into a fabric and used anywhere a designer wishes to place it.
As part of the announcement, the ATAP group has announced their first partner – a fashion brand that has the scale, and popular reach to produce a product that could spur adoption of ‘Smart’ clothing: Levi’s. There’s no new pair of jeans, or fabulous denim jacket with Jacquard coming just yet, but with Levi’s on board, you know it will
Google has launched a Project Jacquard website with some more information and is encouraging Designers, Brand representatives, Developers and even just interested users to sign up to receive more information. If you’d like your next denim jacket to be a smart jacket, sign up and see what’s coming.
