Kinetic Fabric Samples as a New Approach to Interactive Fashion Arts

Abstract

As technology is integrated into all aspects of our lives, researchers are working to explore emerging technologies—such as the creation of functional apparel—in the field of fashion design. The substantial growth in the field of functional apparel design—such as the use of smart textiles—encourages researchers and fashion designers to incorporate technology within their designs. Literature shows that the field of interactive fashion design is new and requires interdisciplinary knowledge such as electrical engineering and computer science to be successful. Therefore, we created ready-to-use kinetic fabric samples for designers, to assess how convenient it could be for designers to implement emerging technologies into their designs. We explored this research gap through two preliminary user studies with seven experienced designers. The information gathered from this study could be used to identify design guidelines for kinetic fabric samples that would assist designers incorporating technology in their design.