Fashionable Friday: Talking about the future of wearable tech with Kristine Upesleja

I got to interview Kristine Upesleja of Madison's innovative textiles and the FIDM textile science department today and I wanted to share what I learned with you! If you haven't read my article on the melange wearable tech tradeshow you can learn more about the presentation she gave there as well! Since she is an expert in this field I decided to ask Upesleja some questions about the direction of wearable tech in the future. Read on to find out all the new and exciting things coming up in fashion's newest field! Remember you heard it first here!

I’m the Textiles & Materials Manager at FIDM/ Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising.

I established the Innovative Materials Collection in the Textiles  & Materials Department in the Library. It includes garments made from coffee grounds, milk, recycled cassette tapes, or the Tommy Hilfiger solar panel coat just to name a few items in the collection. Once a year I curate an Innovative Materials Conference that travels to the other campuses in San Francisco, San Diego and Orange County. It was also shown abroad at the Academy of Art in Riga, Latvia.

Two years ago I established my own consulting  firm MADISONS – Innovative Textiles & Materials Consulting. I’m passionate about educating future designers, professionals and anybody who wants to listen about the possibilities in the textiles and design world. My website www.madisonsinnovative.com

is a source of information. You can also find me on FB and Twitter.

What do you see for the future of wearable tech? 

The ‘term’ wearable tech is diverse. As I mentioned in my presentation when we talk about wearable tech we mainly think about devices and accessories  that are connected to our phones. But it is more than that. It means to engineer  fashion which means bringing in new materials and new ways of making things. What comes to mind is tech clothing, emotional tech, the Bio lab and 3-D printing as an engineering  tool.

How would the 3D printer be integrated into that?

3-D printing is on the rise. We soon will be able to custom print our own garments including shoes

from home or right on the spot in a store. Materials are changing from plastics to natural fibers.

Korean engineers have created a system for 3-D printing ultra thin fabrics for both electrical circuits as well as wearable applications. Beyond the fashion world of wearables the medical market has adopted 3D printing in form of band aids and sensors.

What are the cities where you see this innovation happening the most?  

There isn’t a specific city I would point out. In high fashion it is the Netherlands with Iris Van Herpen on the forefront. She however collaborates with Julia Koerner, who is an architect professor at UCLA’s SUPRASTUDIO. Julia has created her own ready to wear 3-D line.

Michael Schmidt ( LA) and Francis Bitonti (NY) created the Dita van Teese dress. Bitonti is very active in the 3-D industry.

Major 3-D printing company Stratasys is located in Minnesota.

The other most important company is Materialise in Belgium

Nervous System is located in Somerville, MA.

Shapeways is Dutch founded, NY based.

Do you think the wearable tech industry is available for new ideas and innovations?

Absolutely. It seems that almost every day a new wearable tech conference is happening somewhere to bring engineers and designers together and to try to figure out how to collaborate and create something really wearable. But it’ll take time.

Right now it seems like tech companies dominate this field with google glass and apple watch etc. Do you think that will shift towards fashion in the future?

Nobody is even thinking or talking about the Google glass anymore. It’s out out out!! and never was in.

This is an example of bulky, non-efficient wearable tech in fashion.

There is still no aesthetic sensibility when it comes to wearable tech in fashion. This is the big challenge for both engineers and designers. A completely new approach and expertise is required. Designers need to explore electronics, software, bioengineering, and an entirely new retail world.

If it comes to phone related devices such as wrist tech the development is so fast that almost every few months a new generation of devices hits the market.

However what we see is that tech clothing is on the rise. It’s predicted to overtake sales of fitness trackers in 2016. ( Ralph Lauren smart shirt, Athos shirt etc.)