November 19, 2009

A shirt to indicate stress, recommended therapy – touch it

by Shayne Rana

It’s been awhile since I’ve seen technology merge with the ever changing fashion industry. That’s always a rather innovative way to use technology and quite fascinating… sometimes. But smart textiles have been around for awhile in all sorts of forms. e-Pressed is the name of this new clothing technology fashioned into a snappy looking shirt that’s designed to be comfortable for the wearer as well as provide a soothing effect for the psyche if stressed. The shirt itself is made of two layers. There’s the inside and outside with the buttons of pressure areas and then there are LEDs used as indicators that are placed between the inner and outer garment layer. With the help of delicately placed bio sensors the shirt is designed to pick up the wearers stress levels and send signals to corresponding LED s. If stress levels are high the LEDS begin to blink – faster the blinking, higher the anxiety. This indicates that ‘therapy’ is in order and the form recommended is via a stimulation of specific areas located on the shirt.

By placing his/her hands on the designated locations on the clothing, which are strategically placed to provide relaxation, the LEDs will slowly cease to blink as the stress levels go down. The idea behind this was to communicate negative emotions to people around and encourage them to…touch… I mean interact with you. I can think so many ways that this particular story could have gone but I’m afraid I’ll have to keep those to myself, if you get my drift. But for a more detailed idea on the technology and ideology behind e-Pressed, designed by Anja Hertenberger, Barbara Pais and Danielle Roberts, check out the link below.
[Fashioning Technology]