Column: Research notes
heated garments, which means that more advanced technology does not necessarily lead to larger market size.
The diverse ecosystem of e-textiles
By James Hayward, Principal Analyst, IDTechEx
E
-textiles are a technology that combines the functionality and connectivity of electronics with the comfort and ubiquity of textiles. Currently, despite it being a
relatively niche area, hundreds of companies are involved in the development and commercialisation of e-textiles. Of the $70bn wearable electronics market today, only around $0.5bn comes from e-textile-based products, with the most successful market segment being for heated garments. Active heating can deliver rapid, location-
specific warming on demand, which has not been possible with passive techniques. Te majority of sales in this area are in bulky outdoor apparel and protective equipment, such as motorcycle gear and PPE. Tere are also consumer and sports applications, including outerwear and base layers, and emerging applications where heating can be used for medical and wellness purposes.
Te technology itself remains fairly
simple: a power source (usually a large battery) powers a resistive heating element (usually carbon fibre or stainless-steel microfibre wires), with control elements to prevent overheating. Tis is a mature technology with practical products and a simple, effective, value proposition: heated jackets retail at $150-200. Such products have been launched by many leading industrial companies, luxury and high-street fashion brands, and sports organisations.
Smart clothing A contrasting case study is that of smart clothing products for monitoring vital signs and other health metrics. In efforts to grow this market, the core technology including the materials, components and processes used has become increasingly complicated and diverse. Tese products now monitor parameters such as cardiac biopotential (for heart rate, but also other cardiac signals that can be read by an ECG), respiration, motion, position, orientation, muscular activity, temperature, and more. Many of them have made it to the commercial stage, targeting sports, fitness and wellness, medical and healthcare, as well as military, industrial and safety applications. Most of these sectors are interested in porting their products into textiles, and with it grow the investment, patents and product launches, mostly from some of the largest companies around. Nevertheless, estimates of total revenue generated by products in this category in 2019 was just a tenth of that of
14 September/October 2020
www.electronicsworld.co.uk
E-textile projects There are more ways to compare these two types of products beyond just market size. Technological maturity is commonly discussed; established technologies benefit from established supply chains and standards, but newer technology needs to either leverage what has come before or create new options from scratch. Another compare-and-contrast point
centres on the long-term vision of each of these categories. Smart clothing for biometric monitoring is regularly referenced with great optimism about its ubiquity in fitness and healthcare technologies, helping to build a fit, healthy society, whereas heated clothing presents a much less glamorous, yet a certainly more practical short-term application. A third consideration is around product
competition: active heating via e-textiles competes with other options, including improvements in passive heating for textiles, as well as chemical heating. Biometric monitoring exists within a significant ecosystem of competitive products, from smartwatches and pedometers to cardiac skin patches and other wearable medical devices, many of which are mature in their own right and thus represent formidable competition. Tese comparisons increasingly show
that, whilst the reference “e-textiles” may be the common thread connecting them, their differences greatly outweigh their similarities. Which brings us back to the premise that e-textiles combine the best of electronics and textiles in a single product. Tis definition-turned-sales-pitch rolls off the tongue, making its popularity understandable. Te e-textiles community is very diverse,
with hundreds of companies and individuals innovating, exploring and experimenting with different products, technologies and markets, all involving the blending of textiles and electronics.
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