Wearable devices have become increasingly powerful in recent times.  Whilst many come in wristband and similar form, there are also a growing number that are built into the fabric of our clothing itself.  Suffice to say however that these ‘smart fabrics’ are not in any way mainstream yet, and Spire want to bridge the gap by making wearable devices sexier and more user friendly.

The company have recently launched the Spire Health Tag, which they claim is the smallest bionsensor in the industry.  It adheres to your clothes and provides a range of data around things like your sleep and daily activities.

Rich data

Most of the time, the data captured by these devices is similar to that captured by wristband-based devices that monitor for activity levels and so on.  A team from the University of Washington highlight the potential for more however in a recent project whereby they incorporate a conductive thread into clothing that can be used to store various forms of ID and security data.

The team worked especially hard to make sure the fabric was robust enough to survive being washed.  By using a magnetic strip rather than any electronic components, the team hope that the fabric can be washed, even at high temperatures.  It can even be put into a tumble dryer or ironed.

When the garment is paired with a smartphone, it provides the wearer with an easy way to store and transport identification data.  Of course, as with any magnet the threads lose their strength over time, but they can easily be re-magnetized, whilst the researchers also believe them to be easily reprogrammed.  The team are next working on ways to improve the strength of the signal and therefore allow more data to be stored in the thread.

It remains to be seen whether this is the direction of travel for smart wearable devices, but it’s certainly an interesting indication as to the growing technical capabilities of the technology.