Andy's Wearable Computing Notebook

Solar dress charges your MP3 player

Mar 10

fashion No Comments

cnet – crave — Sashaying down the runway this weekend toward the future of wearable technology: a solar-powered dress that revs gadgets via a USB charger located in the waist.

Parts of the dress come from Cornell University’s Textiles Nanotech Laboratory, which teamed up with two Italian universities to create cotton threads that can conduct electrical currents, yet remain light and comfortable enough to feel like the good old cotton we all know and love to sleep in.

”Previous technologies have achieved conductivity, but the resulting fiber becomes rigid and heavy,” said Juan Hinestroza, an assistant professor of Fiber Science and Apparel Design at the university whose student, Abbey Liebman, designed the solar frock. “More importantly our coatings are robust, hence making our yarns friendly to further processing such as weaving, sewing, and knitting.”