The STARTS Prototyping project WEAR Sustain is a two-year and three-million-Euro project funded by the European Commission Horizon 2020 research and innovation initiative. It aims to engage artists and designers to work with technology and engineering experts, to shift the development of the wearables and smart/e-textile landscape and industry towards a more sustainable and ethical approach to development, from design to end-of-life and waste management. 2.4 million euros have been awarded to 46 teams for 6+ months, each with €50,000 to support further development of each prototype, with input from mentors, experts and hubs across Europe. The project runs between January 2017 and December 2018.
WEAR’s aims are to:
- Develop a sustainable European network of stakeholders and hubs, to connect and push the boundaries in the design and development of ethical and sustainable wearables and smart/e-textiles;
- Encourage cross-border and cross-sector collaboration between artists and technologists to design and develop a new generation of ethical and sustainable wearable technologies and smart/e-textiles;
- Develop a framework within which future prototypes can be developed to become the next generation of what ethical and aesthetic wearables should be;
- Lead the emergence of innovative approaches to design, production, manufacturing and business models for wearable technologies and smart/e-textiles;
- Make citizens, industry, and other stakeholders more aware of and responsible for ethical, sustainable and aesthetic issues in the design, development and use of wearable technologies and smart/e-textiles.
Closed Loop Smart Athleisure Fashion
by-wire.net (NL) — Marina Toeters (NL), Holst Center (NL) — Margreet de Kok (NL), Katoenenzo (NL) — Melissa Bonvie (NL)
The smart shirts continuously measures the ladies’ key vital signals based on Holst Centre’s advanced printed sensor technologies on flexible substrates for textile integration.
FlexAbility
Lara Grant (US), Anna Blumenkranz (DE/UA), Adrian Freed (UK)
FlexAbility is a modular kit prototype created from ethically and sustainability vetted components facilitating the creation of made-to-measure wearables for people with physical disabilities.
GenCloth
datable (US) — Elizabeth Esther Bigger (US), Luis Edgardo Fraguada (PR)
GenCloth is a 3-D toolkit and data set archive for generative garment design.
MOGU Leather
Mogu S.r.l. - Maurizio Montalti (IT/NL)
MOGU Leather is to be looked at as an alternative to traditional animal leather – a novel natural material with comparable qualities.
Quietude
University of Siena (IT) — Patrizia Marti (IT), Matteo Sirizzotti (IT), Pietro Rustici (IT), Simone Guercio (IT), Glitch Factory s.r.l. (IT) — Michele Tittarelli (IT), Iolanda Iacono (IT), T4All (IT) — Gianluca Daino (IT), Riccardo Zambon (IT)
Quietude is a collection of interactive jewels that enhance the experience of sound for deaf women.
Textile Reflexes
Hellen van Rees (NL), University of Twente (NL) — Angelika Mader (DE), Geke Ludden (NL)
This project aims to further develop the shape-changing textile developed by Hellen van Rees.
Credits:
The project is managed by a consortium of 7 organizations across 5 EU countries:
IMEC (Brussels, BE)
University for the Creative Arts (Epsom, GB)
Queen Mary University of London (GB)
Berlin University of the Arts, UdK (Berlin, DE)
Blumine (Milan, IT)
Digital Spaces Living Lab (Sofia, BG)
DataScouts (Brussels, BE)
