As a follow up on my editorial Unearthing the trending blend of fashion and wearable technology where we talked about clothing and other gadgets that doubles as something else. The latest trend of digital humanism to surface comes from a team composed of students, a creative agency, and a fashion designer, all of whom worked together to assemble a wardrobe called Wearable Solar.
Wearable Solar is a line of clothing that harbors embedded solar panels wired to allow for personal device charging. As such, one can plug their smartphone in and allow it to charge while they walk around the park or do their daily shopping. Thus far there are two prototypes, one being a dress and the other being a coat.
From the prototype we see above the solar panels are attached to the clothing as “flaps,” which can be adjusted or even hidden, depending on how the user wants to wear it. Of course, the downside to gaining mobile personal charging powers is looking like a character out of a Star Trek universe, at least if the clothing piece featured above is anything to go by.
The work was done by students at the University of Applied Sciences in Nijmegen, while the designing was done by fasion designer Pauline van Dongen and the entire project was led by agency Gelderland
Valoriseert’s Christiaan Holland. The material isn’t lightweight, however, and for many climates this would be winter-only apparel, perhaps negating the sun-harnessing aspect of the idea behind it.
Source: Discovery
