E-textiles are fabrics that allow digital components and electronics to be embedded in them. Not to be confused with smart textiles, which are fabrics developed with new technology to provide improved function, e-textiles allow electronic components to be seamlessly integrated. E-textiles can also refer to actual electrical circuits, constructed into or created with the intention of being integrated into a textile.
E-textiles fall into two categories: aesthetic and performance enhancing. Aesthetic e-textiles add visual components to the fabric, such as LED lighting or speaker capabilities. Performance enhancing e-textiles have a wide range of possibilities, including body temperature regulation, wind resistance reduction, muscle vibration control, and extreme environmental protection.
Designers and engineers first tried to combine electricity into clothing at the end of the 19th century, but were limited to illuminated clothing until the mid-20th century.
The Museum of Contemporary Craft in New York City had one of the very first displays of e-textiles in their 1968 exhibit called Body Covering. An animated sweatshirt, which included fiber optics, leads and, a microprocessor to control individual animation frames, was developed by Harry Wainwright in 1985.
He followed up this creation in 1995 when he introduced the world's first machine-enabling fiber optics to be machined into fabrics. Wainwright hired German machine designer Herbert Selbach in 1997, and by 1998 the world's first CNC machines began producing animated coats for Disney parks. Wainwright continued to develop new e-textile technology, including the first ECG bio-physical display jackets in 2005 and infrared digital displays for Identification of Friend or Foe (IFF) in 2006.
MIT research teams have played a crucial part in the advancement of e-textiles, starting when Steve Mann, Thad Starner, and Sandy Pentland conceived "wearable computers" in the mid-1990s. The devices were not seamlessly integrated, consisting of traditional computer attached to and carried on the body, but led to design advancements by Maggie Orth and Rehmi Post. This second MIT research team explored design integration and developed methods for embroidering electronic circuits. Leah Buechley later developed the first commercially available wearable microcontrollers, called the Lilypad Arduino, at MIT Media Lab.
The European DecoChrome project is an initiative funded under European Horizon 2020, which aims to give creative industries funding to help design and build human interfaces that are both functional and aesthetic for smart goods and environments. The project, coordinated by the University of Lapland, includes workshops, demonstrations, and prototype and pilot projects and draws from fifteen consortium members with disciplines ranging from electronics system integration to design, printing, and more.
Despite hurdles related to aligning technology, manufacturing capabilities, and market readiness, e-textiles are estimated to be worth $1.14 billion by 2026, according to a study by IDTechEx. Environmental checks and balances pose additional stress on the emerging e-textile industry, with the World Economic Forum (WEF) estimating approximately $57 billion in global electronic waste every year.
One obstacle for e-textiles is that circuits have to be extremely rugged to handle exposure to mechanically demanding environments during fabrication and use. Comfort and washability should not be affected by circuit presence, creating a need for balance between circuit strength and flexibility.
Energy is a challenge for e-textiles that has persisted since conception, with the cost, size, implementation, and effectiveness of batteries creating problems in terms of both practicality and aesthetics of applications. E-textiles' circuits require power supplies that are lightweight, but still have a high capacity to enable hours of use at a minimum.
In 2018, the Canadian Campus for Advanced Materials and Manufacturing began a joint initiative with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and the Xerox Research Centre of Canada (XRCC) with a goal of developing batteries that are biodegradable, non-toxic, and can be thrown in compost after use without harmful effects to the environment. The project has yielded successful results in new polymer electrolytes and biodegradable materials, including working prototypes of printable batteries with over 90% compostable content.
Commercial e-textiles also must comply with requirements from both textile (fabric) and electronics fields, which are often stringent and can be contradictory. Electronic industries have produced the majority of product development so far, with clothing industries rarely taking e-textiles' special product development into consideration. This contribution imbalance creates difficulty differentiating e-textiles from conventional clothing and existing electronic devices and can result in incompletely or incorrectly integrated applications.
Aside from challenges related to differences in jargon and standards between electronics and clothing industries, a coherent vision for the future of e-textiles is still forming and can create ideological struggles between researchers, producers, and sales teams.
Safety concerns also contribute to these marketization risks, coupled with high prices to slow public adoption and market expansion. The average e-textile jacket sells for almost $3,000 USD, highlighting a prohibitive cost for standard consumers. One example of failed e-textile commercialization is Eleksen, which created 109 textile keyboard prototypes in 2004 and only reached three deals. All of these factors contribute to costly product development and high risks related to product success.
Despite safety, manufacturing, implementation, and commercialization risks, there is a wide range of development opportunities that has continued to push research and development of e-textile technology. Protective clothing, bio-tech healthcare, interactive applications, and Internet-of-Things (IoT) connectivity are all application avenues currently offering investment and research opportunities.
