Christian Ervin, David Nunez, Laura Perovich

Video (password protected): https://vimeo.com/55501151

Presentation slides: RadicalTextiles

Final Write-up: Radical Textiles Final Write-up

What if your shirt could change its form, color, and elasticity–instantly?  Or your pile of dirty clothes could morph into sparkly shoes or a bicycle helmet?  Could fabric react to what’s happening in the world… or what was going on in our heads?

In our world of radical textiles, each stitch is a radical atom.  Conceptually, we can think of these stitches as a kind of stem cell of textiles.  They multiply and divide, merge, and change depending on where they are on the body.  They are also “perfect” in that they have ideal knowledge of what they should be and how to act in different situations.

What might this world might look like?  In this future a man could pull a tie out of his shirt collar if he was underdressed, shirts would grow into jackets as soon as we walked out into the cold, and we could design an outfit and fold it into our pocket if we wanted to wear it later.

Though these scenarios may seem far away, there has been a growing interest in computational textiles in recent years leading to a variety of projects, especially around movement, interpersonal relationships, and empowerment.  This includes projects from the Media Lab such as PillowTalk which allows people to connect remotely through soft objects and DressCode that uses textiles as a way to teach programming skills, especially to young girls.

We break down the world of radical textiles along a few dimensions including use cases, modes of interaction, and types of textile changes.  We also explore the implications of a future that includes radical textiles.  They have the potential to improve our world through conservation of materials, the democratization of design, and increasing creativity.  Yet this substantial shift–a transition similar in scale to the recent shift from landlines to cell phones–may have unforeseen consequences and impacts on society.

We assert that all team members shared work equally and fairly, collaborated on group efforts with enthusiasm, and also provided focused support in areas of expertise.  All team members shared responsibilities on project direction and implementation.  Laura had primary responsibility for the development of our presentation, David for the physical prototypes, and Christian for the video editing.