Smart textiles are wearable fabrics embedded with electronic components, like sensors and actuators, that react to their environment. They can measure stimuli, like temperature, moisture, pressure, light and sound, and respond to an input through dynamic behaviors like changing color or shape, releasing heat or delivering haptic feedback.
What Are Smart Textiles?
Smart textiles refers to materials with embedded electronics — such as sensors, actuators or conductive fibers — that enable them to detect and respond to external stimuli.
There are two main types of smart textiles: active and passive. Active smart textiles can interact with their environment and respond to stimuli, while passive ones can only monitor these changes without altering their behavior.
Smart textiles can be used for health monitoring of patients, performance tracking of athletes and operational support of first responders.
How Do Smart Textiles Work?
Smart textiles use specialized fibers, such as conductive yarns, piezoelectric materials or temperature-sensitive fabrics to sense and actuate. With built-in sensors, a smart textile can measure a variety of metrics, from heart rate and body temperature to how much force is being applied to the fabric and what chemicals are in the wearer’s immediate environment.
Once this data is collected, it’s then transmitted to a processing unit. This step can take place within the microprocessors of a wearable device, or outsourced to a smartphone or a connected app, where the information is translated into actionable insights. For example, a device that tracks a runner’s physical activity may relay information to an app that provides feedback on the wearer’s pace, stride or footstriking pattern. An on-body EKG monitor can continually track a patient’s cardiac rhythm, detecting irregularities in the wearer's heart beat. And so on.
If the smart textile is active, the fabric can respond to the data it gathers by triggering a physical change. This could be anything from adjusting temperature, like heating or cooling down a jacket, or changing color based on UV exposure.
Through this combination of sensing, processing and actuation, smart textiles offer a wide array of applications with their ability to track a wearer’s movements, physiology and surroundings.
Applications of Smart Textiles
More than just a fashion statement, smart textiles are used across a wide range of real-word applications.
Healthcare
Smart textiles are used to deliver more personalized diagnostics, monitoring a patient’s vital signs, like heart and respiration rate, with biosensors. Over time, they can track physiological information to flag abnormalities and even catch early warning signs for conditions such as arrhythmias or irregular breathing patterns.
Sport and Fitness
Smart textiles enable precise monitoring of athletic performance, measuring key metrics like heart rate, muscle activity and range of motion to provide actionable insights. Embedded into full-body swim suits, yoga pants and app-connected footwear, water-resistant e-textiles use motion sensors to collect data and analyze biomechanics. This information can then be used to enhance performance or even prevent injuries.
Military
In the military sector, e-textiles can be used to monitor vital signs, detect injuries, locate soldiers and transmit real-time data to medical and intel teams, as well as detect environmental hazards, such as toxic gasses or radiation, for optimal situational awareness.
Workplace Safety
Workers wearing biosensors in their garments can be monitored for heat stress or fatigue, while motion sensors can be used to collect data for injury prevention in industries like construction or logistics. Additionally, smart uniforms with location-tracking features enhance on-the-job safety for first responders and those working in particularly hazardous conditions, like miners, enabling rapid response to emergencies.
Examples of Smart Textiles
Hexoskin’s Smart ‘Astroskin’ Shirt
This washable headband and shirt set is built with a heart monitor, breath sensors, a pulse oximeter and skin temperature sensors that support real-time biometric monitoring for up to 48 hours at a time. Originally developed for astronauts, Hexoskin’s Astroskin can detect everything from cardiac conditions to sleep quality of the user, while studying the effects of altitude on the body during space missions.
Nuubo’s Wearable EKG Monitor
Medtech company Nuubo has developed a cardiac monitoring system in the form of a vest that can be worn under clothes for up to 30 days. Embedded with vital-tracking electrodes, it records cardiac rhythms continuously during daily activities. Any anomalies are detected quickly, then documented in a report that informs a patient’s treatment upon their next office visit.
3DKnITS, an Intelligent Sock by MIT
MIT researchers developed a smart fabric using advanced knitting machines to create customizable, body-conforming textiles. As the user applies different levels of pressure, sensors in the 3D-shaping fabrics collect information about a user’s biomechanics — like their gait, balance and muscle coordination — for AI-enabled analysis.
Feel Sound with CuteCircuit’s SoundShirt
The SoundShirt is a garment developed by CuteCircuit that allows deaf users to “feel” music. With 28 micro-actuators and haptic sensors integrated into its fabric, the shirt translates sound into vibrations that are felt on the skin, mapping different sound frequencies to various parts of the body. This creates an immersive experience that makes musical performances more inclusive and engaging for those with hearing impairments.
UCR's Self-Healing Fabric
Researchers at the University of California, Riverside created a conductive, self-healing fabric that autonomously repairs itself. After being cut, the material can re-attach itself in under 24 hours at room temperature. Made up of ionic conductors, the material can be electrically activated, and could be used to power artificial hearts and robots.
Wearable X’s Smart Leggings
Fashion tech company Wearable X launched its line of Nadi X smart yoga pants, woven with built-in sensors and haptic feedback, to guide a user’s yoga practice. The smart leggings work alongside a mobile app to provide vibrational cues that prompt the wearer to adjust their form, enhancing their yoga flow with instruction of proper alignment.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are examples of smart fabrics?
Examples of smart fabrics include moisture-wicking athletic wear, temperature-regulating materials, color-changing garments as well as textiles with embedded sensors, like Hexoskin’s biometric monitoring headband and shirt set or MIT’s AI-enabled footwear.
What is the difference between smart textiles and e-textiles?
A smart textile is an umbrella term that encompasses any fabric with functional properties that respond to external stimuli, whereas an e-textile, which is a type of smart textile, refers to materials that are specifically integrated with electronic components, like sensors or circuits.
