At the beginning of the month, we announced our partnership with Munich Fabric Start. We decided to collaborate on a concept that focused on creating a The Wardrobe of the Future for the KEYHOUSE, which is a fashion tech space launched 30th August 2016.
The Wardrobe of the Future Offering A Unique Experience
Fashion has always been a hotbed for innovation, that has kept many of us on our toes and wondering what we will be wearing in the future. With the rise of clothes that have been designed with both intelligence and style, the ‘Wardrobe of the Future’ is a trend-led walk-in wardrobe built to provide a unique experience that introduces the kind of brands that have successfully merged fashion with technology.
The bespoke walk-in wardrobe has been designed to house an impressive lineup of smart brands like Orange Fiber x Salvatore Ferragamo, CuteCircuit, Elektrocouture, Wearable X, Loran & Bel, Flair Atelier, Emel + Aris, Thesis Couture and Pyrates to name a few. Offering an up close and personal experience, the space will give attendees access to handpicked fashion tech products that demonstrate the possibilities, advantages and potential of fashion technology. Now let’s meet the brands.
CuteCircuit
London based CuteCircuit was launched in 2004 by Ryan Genz and Francesca Rosella. Pioneers in the field of fashion wearable technology, the duo quickly made a name for themselves designing interactive fashion.“At CuteCircuit we believe that in the future our bodies will become the interface to data, and clothing will become an intelligent second skin enabling the wearers to connect with each other more intuitively and intimately,” share the founders.
Item to be Featured in the Wardrobe of the Future:
- Product: Mirror Handbag
- Details: The Mirror Handbag is precision machined out of aerospace aluminium and then anodised black. The sides of the handbag are made of laser-etched acrylic mirror that let the light from the white LEDs shine through to create amazing animations and display messages and Tweets. The bag is controlled by the Q App connecting easily to your smartphone via Bluetooth Smart.
- Price: £1,500.00
- Available to buy: Yes
Emel + Aris
EMEL + ARIS, founded by Rana Nakhal Solset, is a British label that creates beautifully tailored Smart Coats designed for both men and women. The stylish wearable tech introduced a revolutionary heating technology that uses a lightweight, inert polymer instead of wires and produces FIR (far infrared) heat energy that is absorbed by the skin to heat the muscles and increase blood flow. The benefits of Far Infrared (FIR) therapy have long been recognised and recent research has validated the vast range of medical claims of FIR, including increased blood flow, pain relief and boosted the immune system. In an interview with FashNerd.com Solset said: I am not a fashion designer, I simply want to fulfil a need. Why? Because it would save me packing different coats for different occasions. So the idea was to take the technology and put it into a beautiful cashmere coat making it a luxury wardrobe staple that would be a great investment for women who know what they want.”
Item to be Featured in the Wardrobe:
- Product: Cashmere Smart Wrap
- Details: Made with a lightweight Loro Piana cashmere and wool blend and fitted with our integrated heating system. Treated to be water-resistant and windproof, the women’s wrap coat is elegant and flattering. Beautiful, luxurious, for day and night, it’s a sophisticated solution to variable weather.
- Price: Start from £996.00 to £1,395
- Available to buy: Yes
PerFlex
PerFlex was founded by graduates, Brigitte Kock, Bart Pruijmboom and Niek van Sleeuwen, from the Eindhoven University of Technology. Through an exploration of the boundaries of generative design, they found a way of utilising the possibilities of 3D printing to create smart and innovative solutions for design and personalisation. “Our unique generative design algorithms change every design to fit the unique body shape of every individual customer”, said the PerFlex team. Hoping to change the one size fits most to unique size fits you, their product will allow us to create products in single unit production runs without any extra costs.
Item to be Featured in the Wardrobe:
- Product: 3D printed underwear
- Details: The underwear was 3D Printed
- Price: n/a
- Available to buy: Not yet
Wearable X
Nadi X was created by technology company Wearable Experiments and is the brainchild of founders Billie Whitehouse and Ben Moir. Specialising in human/computer interaction, Wearable Experiments have created a language that allows the skin to become an interface. The Nadi X yoga pants have the ability to communicate and correct your form by using subtle vibrations via technology woven between nylon layers. The haptic vibrations have been built into a full physical language, which allows the technology to communicate feedback to help correct your form and achieve your fitness goals.
Item to be Featured in the Wardrobe:
- Product: Nadi X Yoga pants
- Details: The TECHNICAL APPAREL has embedded sensors and guidance through vibration and audio. They are the first ever gentle wash tumble dry smart apparel. The guidance takes place through vibration and accelerometers around the hips knees, and ankles teach you yoga step by step.
- Price: From $250.00
- Available to buy: Yes
ElektroCouture
At ElektroCouture, they believe in the language of light and designing for the future. Made up of a group of material scientists, light architects and dream creators, ElektroCouture, has for the past five years, been at the frontier of Fashion Tech. They have done this by creating pieces that transform the relationship of fashion to technology and compel the exchange of many boundaries.
Item to be Featured in the Wardrobe:
- Product: Berlin Sweater and the Berlin Coat
- Details: The oversized knitwear design of the Berlin Coat is made of extra-fine Oekotex 100-certified Merino Wool, which makes it lightweight and protects you from the extreme weather while also providing a soft grip. The pattern of the coat shows the Berlin city map, graphically stylised and pixelated. The garment is knitted on Jacquard machines, and the LEDs in the coat are powered by a high-quality battery placed inside the welt pocket, which provides enough power to glow the whole day. Additionally, in the pocket, a layer of special anti-electro-smog textile directs all electromagnetic radiation away from you. The side pockets and sleeve hems are then also lined with a cotton jersey.
- Price: n/a
- Available to buy: Not Yet
Lorna & Bel
Lorna & Bel is an Australian-based fashion tech label that is all about creating beautifully designed bags that simultaneously solve one of the most frustrating problems of the tech-age – your mobile phone running out of battery. Founded by Lorna Swinstead and Belinda Wood, Lorna & Bel have launched a collection of smart bags that seamlessly fuse technological function with fashion. The minimalist bags have been designed to charge your phone, all you have to do is plug your phone into the USB cable located inside your bag’s exterior slide pocket. Your bag’s rechargeable battery will automatically start charging your phone.
Item to be Featured in the Wardrobe:
- Product: Various Bags
- Details: Most of the bags have an interior zip pocket with rechargeable battery and cables, a phone slide-pocket at the back of bag for charging the phone. Lightweight 5000mAh rechargeable battery, 2 micro USB cables (one for charging your phone and one for re-charging the bag’s battery) and an iPhone adapter (packaged separately, inside battery pocket)
- Price: $229.00 (AUS)
- Available to buy: Yes
Pyrates
PYRATES smart fabrics is a high-end performance streetwear brand and a smart fabrics supplier behind PYRATEX® smart fabrics. PYRATEX first capsule collection was a merger between their technology and premium organic fabric. PYRATEX fabric is also fully biodegradable and produced in an environmentally friendly manner, using only products and techniques that are harmless to nature. We think that it is great how PYRATEX fabrics are ideal for underwear, sportswear, loungewear and Activewear. The brand PYRATES is a burning desire to make clothing a support for innovation and wellbeing.
Item to be Featured in the Wardrobe:
- Product: Various pieces from the capsule collection
- Details: The pieces are designed to benefit the skin and body, the active components heal, soothe and care for your body. PYRATES’ special technology is not injected nor added, it is embedded in the fabric and thus has no expiration date.
- Price: From €259.00
- Available to buy: Yes
Flair Atelier
Flair Atelier is a retail tech startup that creates fully customised garments for women, via an online platform. Using a winning combination of beautiful design, intuitive technology and meticulous craftsmanship, the company offers customers the possibility to create their own dress that will perfectly fit to measure and be delivered to your doorstep two weeks from the when the order was placed. Founded by Marianna Ferro and Cristiana Posani, their goal with Flair Atelier is to create something that would allow working women to “find the perfect dress”. On being part of the project Marianna Ferro, CEO and founder of Flair Atelier said, “Flair Atelier is excited and proud of being a part of Wardrobe of the Future, a glimpse of how our wardrobe will look like in a not too distant future. It is a great opportunity for us to showcase how fashion can embrace technology, to enhance our shopping experience and create beautiful garments that reflect our personality and adapt to our lifestyle”.
Item to be Featured in the Wardrobe:
- Product: Various dresses
- Details: Using a winning combination of beautiful design, intuitive technology and meticulous craftsmanship, the company offers customers the possibility to create their own dress that will perfectly fit to measure and be delivered to your doorstep two weeks from the when the order was placed.
- Price: Prices vary
- Available to buy: Yes
Orange Fiber x Salvatore Ferragamo
Orange Fiber will be showcasing a dress, created in collaboration with Salvatore Ferragamo, produced with fabric that was made with citrus fruits. The Italian startup was founded in 2014 by Adriana Santanocito and Enrica Arena. They have come up with a way to create sustainable textiles for the fashion industry from citrus juice byproducts. Orange Fiber does this by extracting the cellulose from the fibres that are discarded from the industrial pressing and processing of oranges. Through nanotechnology techniques, the fibre is enriched with citrus fruit essential oils, creating a unique and sustainable fabric.
Item to be Featured in the Wardrobe:
- Product: A dress
- Details: Salvatore Ferragamo is the first brand to use the exclusive Orange Fiber fabric: sustainable fabrics for fashion made from what remains after squeezing them for juice, that amounts to more than 700,000 tons of by-product in Italy.
- Price: n/a
- Available to buy: Not yet
Thesis Couture
Thesis Couture is about creating the perfect stiletto for women who cannot imagine being parted from their extra inches. With a passion for both science and fashion, the footwear startup was founded by Dolly Singh. Thesis stilettos brag handmade-in-Italy 4-inch heels, but when you put them on they feel like you are walking in 3-inch wedges.
Item to be Featured in the Wardrobe:
- Product: A dress
- Details: Built on a proprietary internal architecture called the Thesis LIFT(TM) (Load Balancing Interlocking Footwear Technology), the smart shoe has been designed using structural engineering and advanced material technology. An independent study conducted in by an expert in biomechanics at the University of Staffordshire proved how the LIFT decreased weight and pressure on the balls of the feet and improves balance while reducing fatigue.
- Price: From $925.00
- Available to buy: On Pre-order
MoonBerlin
Moon Berlin, the brand behind the heated cashmere coat, have been creating the future of fashion tech since 2010. Focusing on electrically illuminated garments, heating systems, augmented reality, The FashionTech atelier was founded by Christian Bruns and Axel Pfeiler. Together they have been designing feminine and innovation pieces enhanced with high tech elements and alluring LED lights, as seen in their signature clutch. “The challenge is to include smart technology into elegant fashion designs all while keeping the garments and accessories easy to wear,” state the founders.
Item to be Featured in the Wardrobe:
- Product: A top and clutch bags
- Details: The clutches are illuminated by LEDs, which guide the light through glass fibers into the patented tissue of the bag. The bag is powered by a lightweight, rechargeable battery that provides power to the bag for approximately 15 hours when fully charged. The top is 100% Silk, with Electrical illuminated Sleeves by woven fiber optic fabric with LED and Handapplicated leather Strings. The Illumination works for about 15 hours. Rechargeable. Dry Clean only.
- Price: From €249.00
- Available to buy: Yes
iNDUO
iNDUO is a shirt fabric that resists stains and perspiration. The fabric is hydrophobic (water-resistant) and lipophobic (oil-resistant) and thus liquids resistant. The cotton helps disperse perspiration, preventing both underarm rings and odours. Founded by Pauline Guesne, she wanted to conceive a fabric that could be used in everyday garments.
Item to be Featured in the Wardrobe:
- Product: Shirts
- Details: The shirts are made out of smart fabric that is machine-washable, quick-drying and can be ironed in a classic way.
- Price: n/a
- Available to buy: Yes
Neue x POC x FIT
Disintegrating the borders between fashion and technology, Neue, a Stockholm-based fashion tech company partnered up with POC and the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York City. Supported by the Swedish Fashion Council, the collaboration brought about a production of sports garments and gadgets designed to encourage shared ownership and increase user desirability.
- Product: Backpack
- Details: The commuter backpack has a variety of haptic and visual technologies providing screen-free connectivity for the rider. Optimizing the commuter’s lifestyles and road experience, the NEUE technology provides a platform for a shared infrastructure and challenges the concept of contemporary ownership.
- Price: n/a
- Available to buy: Not yet
Electric Tees
Electric Tees is a sustainable brand that has adopted the concept of made-to-order. They are built upon fundamental principles of sustainable production and socially positive supply chain management. The British brand refuses to be part of the fast fashion crowd and consciously avoid overproduction of their garments. Founder and entrepreneur Kuben Edwards describes her Shoreditch based label as “a unisex recycled organic collection that is a mashup of reading between the lines and thinking outside the box!”
Item to be Featured in the Wardrobe:
- Product: Jacket
- Details: Recycled made-to-order organic collection built upon fundamental principles of sustainable production
- Price: From £90.00
- Available to buy: On Pre-order
So here is the good news, you will be able to step into the wardrobe at Munich Fabric Start’s KEYHOUSE from Tuesday 4th September 2018 until Thursday 6th September 2018. See you there.
Founding editor-in-chief of FashNerd.com, Muchaneta is currently one of the leading influencers writing about the merger of fashion with technology and wearable technology. She has also given talks at Premiere Vision, Munich Fabric Start and Pure London, to name a few. Besides working as a fashion innovation consultant for various fashion companies like LVMH Atelier, Muchaneta has also contributed to Vogue Business, is a senior contributor at The Interline and an associate lecturer at London College of Fashion, UAL.