Slashdot Mirror
Perfumed, Glowing Cloth
namtap writes "A story on NPR's All Things Considered discusses a light emitting fabric: The costumes onstage in Washington, D.C., might look a little brighter
this opera season -- or at least, much more colorful. All Things
Considered senior host Robert
Siegel talks with Alberto Spiazzi, costume designer for Washington
Opera's production of Aida, about luminex, a self-illuminating fabric." Makarand writes "A new technology will soon
enable scents to be woven into fabrics. The
technology, called Sensory Perception Technologies (SPT), will allow
particles of moisturisers, deodorants and fragrances to be
woven directly into fabrics.
Scented tiny droplets contained inside miniature waterproof particles
are woven into fabrics to be released upon activation by
movement or touch. The fabrics are dry cleanable and machine washable."
A true must-have for geeks everywhere...
...but does it have Digital 4 Track Recorders?
Anyone remember the shirts that would change color with heat? I loved how the armpits would always be one color and the rest of the shirt would be the other.
Gee ... the scents must be there to mask the manufacturing smell of their clothing ...
HAHA... not any more...
.. until they can weave febreeze into fabric?
This could be great for children, road workers or other similar people who have a tendency to get too close to cars in the dark or need to be seen for other reasons.
.: Max Romantschuk
So now I won't have to worry about losing my underwear in the dark, and it will always smell like flowers?
An excuse for geeks all round not to shower. Ew.
I don't know how good an idea this might be.
As it currently stands, I try to be awake for as little daylight as I can, and brightly lit t-shirts would kinda defeat the purpose.
Work sucked, until it became unemployment, when it became slightly more tolerable. -Tet
I wonder if Elton John's made any pre-orders yet...
Who doesn't like free music?
I don't see how this can compete with having magnesium woven directly into the fabric, plus a box of matches.
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/10/0 9/1627251&mode=thread
At least this one has some new information. Maybe we're seeing some progress.
These people looked deep into my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined.
Mmm scratch and sniff girls.
Oh wait, I think my uncle Tom has been scratch and sniff for like 15 years... Not that you would want to.
Forget modding your Xbox. Deodorant and a nice fresh scent imbedded in clothes is information _desperately_ needed by this audience. :-)
(C'mon, I'm a member of that group too.)
There are 01 kinds of cars in the world. The General Lee, and everything else.
all the geeks that have poor hygene to start with requesting slogan/comic t-shirts with deoderant built in...
Does this mean i don't have to break glowsticks open and rub it on my clothes to glow anymore?
result in intelligent clothing. It would be irritating to have your clothes emit a constant smell. Why not have sensors on the clothes to detect sweat, and only THEN activate the er.. fumigators or scent generators.. Using this technology, clothes may be able to change color with emotions.... that should be intersting.
|/________
|\A|ALYS|
The one and only foreseeable advantage of scented clothes would (hopefully) people stop dousing themselves in thick, potent, cheap perfume.
However what about those who are extremely sensitive to scents? It sucks.
I say we go back to scratch-n-sniff or just licking each other.
I always wanted to look like those people in Tron.
You know, not really. I like my clothes just the way they are.
Brought to you by the Artificial Idea Factory.
So this light fabric will help the malnourished children and other slave labourers see what they're making? I'd guess it wouldn't improve the smell, they wouldn't want to waste anything on their unwashed bondsmen. Soon we'll need glowing rubber to ensure parity in the working conditions for the nike 'cobblers'. Maybe they could irradiate some mad cows, it's not like anyone is going to eat them anyway.
$280/yd (and a 50 yard minimum order) seems a little steep for fabric with strands of optical fiber woven in -- you still have to hook up the light sources yourself, probably after you've cut your pattern. Seems most people capable of making anything more complicated than a tablecloth out of this stuff could probably weave their own.
--paul
-- Every time you kill a kitten, God masturbates.
I never have to do laundry again! Now I can drag the 3-day wear into infinity ...
Buy a bottle of your favorite upscale whisky, and hit off of it frequently before the opera starts. I promise everything on stage will glow and appear more colorful. Heck even the sound will glow....you'll glow!
'Color by J. Daniels, of Tennessee'.
It's up to your partner to supply an upgraded scent, however. No platform-pizza jokes, please.
You linked to NPR. Did you get permission?
for those ladies that don't douche!
SHOGUN OF HARLEM!!!
:)
You rawk! I've always wondered where the other person was who saw that brilliant movie.
if only this had come in the age of the disco... endless possibilities! Now, I can't help but think this will go the way of the segway.
Quid festinatio swallonis est aetherfuga inonusti?
Africus aut Europaeus?
before interwoven patents this fabric.
What I thought was even more interesting is that at first the company who made it, Generra, was a prime brand, it ended up a few years later in the forgotten trends market at Montgomery Ward.
It's going to be interesting. It's looking like one day we will have clothes that change color, glow, smell and have RFID tags. Maybe Gap will just make any stolen T Shirt Stink and glow with the words, "I stole this" or "I don't fold things back neatly at the Gap"
Yell & scream & rant & rave... it's no use... you need a shaaaave ~ Bugs Bunny
Maybe they should try costumes painted with superblack paint?
http://www.fumento.com/halifax.html
Coming soon to a city near you.
KFG
I sure hope the guys at ThinkGeek.com pick up on this. :|
There are plenty of guys in the Math and CS depts around here who could use some 'decent' smelling clothes
Perhaps it could be mandatory?
L053R
I emailed them about it. Here is the reply.
Thank you for your interest in Luminex.
We are Zuzka, the exclusive Distribution & Product Development team for Luminex in the US & Canada.
Yes, the optical fiber fabric is available for purchase!
The minimum is 50 yards per fabric type.
The fabric is woven with optical fiber (and is illuminated by LED's) into the following fabrics:
- Double sided LED polyester (sheer quality/ 7 colors) 58 "w $280/yd
- Lycra 58 "w $280/yd
- Super Velo (extra densely woven optical fibers) TK
LED colors available: white, blue, red, green, &yellow
Standard fabrics allow the LED color to be different every 18"
Double sided fabrics are capable of having two different colored LED's merging into the same fibers to create additional colors
Orders for quantity and for custom made sample products (i.e: pillows, jackets, etc.) can processed by phone and finished to your specs.
Yardage Prices do not include rechargeable 3.6v battery and recharging kit.
all SAMPLES must be purchased: $234-364/yd
battery: $24 per battery
recharger kit: $26 per recharger.
weaves available include 7 kinds of poly's: white, blue, silver, gold, red, green, cream & black
Delivery is currently 4-8 weeks
please do not hesitate to contact me for more info:
Christopher Berger
Zuzka for Fabricology Inc.
37 East 18th Street, Suite 10
New York, NY 10003
T 212. 260.1876
F 212. 260.7963
chris@zuzka.com
www.zuzka.com
if people are going to start pushing for this with built in deodorants and perfumes to hide the fact that it will be worn over and over by people with poor hygiene, why would we care that it is [a] dry-cleanable or [b] machine washable? C'mon, think of the target audience in the writeup!
Forget about the geeks, the first few productions should be for the French.
How about glowing bed sheets and blankets? That would make for some really amazing sex.
You may be the fabled "lost brother" we have been searching for. There are others. You are not alone.
--Jimmy has fancy plans; and pants to match.
... is super-dreamy. I wonder if I can get a Siegel-scented tie?
+ G to tha Izzo, A to tha Tizee, Talking Giz-oat, Ya'll Bettah Feel Me... +
What will all the geeks that don't use deodorant wear now, huh?
Solid.
Hopefully this crap will never see mass-market.
Every new form of media has it's own Requirimento
Slashdot
The lunatic is in my head
Finding clothes I like is hard enough already.
:(
I notice that lately, every single item of clothing has something wrong (hideous) about it.
The other day, saw a nice long sleeved black T-shirt, looked ok. But someone had decided to put a pocket on the left breast. doh.
The shirt next to it, no pocket, but a tiny white stripe around the middle. wonderful.
So now not only will we have to put up with crap like that, the next shirt I find that looks good might make me smell like a fairy?
Will hobos still be able to maintain their earthly scent?
I'd say that Luminex would be great for my second-base mobile, along with the quadraphonic sound, the waterbed, and the strobe light.
oh yeah baby!
Very gay.
now I'll have to buy new clothes when the perfume runs out?
Let the president wear luminex suits and it will bring a little brightness into the White House.
He saw some dirty arabs and fired. Too bad it was just some friendly kurds, BBC reporters and his fellow cowboys.
Why not try electroluminscent wire? I bought a bunch a couple years ago for a quick and dirty Tron halloween outfit. Not only was it a smashing sucess which got me more free drinks than I could handle thus creating a drunken smashed Tron, but I'm sure my night visibility was amazing. I didn't get run over once!
Even the cheapest elwire can be bought with an sequencer so you could build a simple circuit and make your clothes tell drivers if you intend to turn right or left, like giant body sized blinkers.
And what happens if I want my new self-illuminating bright green jacket to be Scent Free?
And why weave scents into the fabric anyway?
-- -- Warning. Do not stare directly at the sun.
I can just see the novelty market for this...
Tweed sweaters with that "old man" smell
Bras for your teenage daughter that smell like gun smoke.
Skirts for your ex-wife that smell like female dogs in heat, but only to other dogs. Now an excuse to get her a present this year!
Bed sheets that always smell like you've washed them.
Car upolstery that always smells new.
Child clothes that smell like bubblegum.
Lisa Simpson, your discovery has finally found a practical method of application! Geeks of the world, unite to throw off your scent, so that the bullies only smell salad dressing, instead of your fear!
Create clothes that have deoderant in them instead. I know several people that could use self-deoderizing clothes as opposed to better-smelling ones.
"The Sage treasures Unity and measures all things by it" - Lao Tzu
A new technology will soon enable scents to be woven into fabrics.
Scents inextricably bound to fabric? Where have I seen this before?
I would prefer the technology be called Sensory Perception Integration Technologies (SPIT) - the clothes that make you drool.
You could bask in the glistening SPIT on your clothes or relish the thought that passers by can enjoy the smell of SPIT on your shirt.....
--
As a matter of fact, I am a lawyer. But I play an actor on TV.
if instead of merely being luminous, clothing could be programmed to be transparent.
Floating patches of transparency on women's outfits would be all the rage. Obviously, within reason.
for the H1B crowd!
This will add at least a week to the tokenringish clothes reciclying
NEOCA - Custom LED Flashlights
I think we slashdotted the hirez bra pic on the luminex site. :)
be vigilant, be pure, behave
I just happened to be there to see Aida on the 22nd. I was particularly confused when I saw the clothes glowing on some characters. At first I though it was something like a glow stick. But then I saw a plug comming out of one of the costumes...
Too bad the acoustics couldn't keep up with the costumes!
as an allergy sufferer I would consider it my right to shoot anybody wearing such an offensive outfit!
playing over and over. Even if a person's perfume had no allergens, sending out one scent constantly is boring / rude. The perfume industry markets the idea of a 'signature scent' people can wear to announce or associate with their presence. To me that is like a 'signature sound' that people could play to announce their presence-- a quiet ringtone that never stops.
I saw the dress rehersal for Aida a week ago. I saw the glowing dress and kept thinking to myself "Sure the lady is fat, but where are they hiding all those lights?"
Iesus Christus magnus est.
Obviously, performance art is one area where luminescent clothing is useful. It will surely be a fashion fad among the youth, if it's affordable. In fact, even more so if it is not. But after a while, the fad will fall out of favor, and glowing clothes will take their rightful and practical place - as visibility enhancement for people for whom this is important.
Cops directing traffic, EMT's, tour guides, chaperones at field trips, joggers, night-time skiiers, and so forth. These people would actually benefit from being visible in low light, like actors.
As for the scratch and sniff clothing, it strikes me as just plain silly at first glance. But, after the initial onslaught of Channel No. 5 and Tommy Hilfiger scented, Tommy Hilfiger branded clothes, this too will find practical use.
Think of rescue dogs trained to sniff out a particular trace scent. Think of mountain climbers and skiiers, who might be burried in an avalanche. Or first responders who might get caught in a building collapse. Or miners.
It might seem goofy and little more than novel at face value, but this stuff might make a positive difference in the world - if it's used smartly.
The REAL jabber has the user id: 13196
What you do today will cost you a day of your life
Lovely, but I think that is a bit expensive for one disco night...(not to mention that it's 80's stuff) :-)
Plus, you only get to choose one scent for a piece of clothing? Hmm...I like deodorant more :-)
Imagine a beowolf cluster of these.
There its been said.
A passive way to do the same thing:
I seem to remember a factoid from high school chemistry MANY years ago that most detergents used for washing clothes had dye in them. The dyes floureses (word?) so that "whites look whiter".
Scented tiny droplets contained inside miniature waterproof particles are woven into fabrics to be released upon activation by movement or touch. The fabrics are dry cleanable and machine washable."
wouldnt that either make the clothing smell either really strong at first, or make the clothe's smell fade with time, or both?
if i want to have smelly clothes, ill just spill some perfume on them
kaens.blogspot.com
Imagine all the new pornos, fetishes and condoms this will spawn.
I heard the NPR radio show. The commentator delved in with quick blunt and descriptive hands-on fact checking. Seeing for himself exactly how well the cloth did in both light and dark conditions. The SlashDot editors could really take a que from this guy!
I saw Aida last night with the Luminex costumes. They only really had two scenes using it.. one of the scenes worked very well - dancers had "wings" made of it. It was very effective.
The other scene was less impressive. It ended up coming across as tacky. What made it even worse was they didn't bother to hook up a remote controlled on/off switch, so the performer had to hold a switch in her hand to turn it on at the right time.
Even with the effective scene, it seems more like a gimic that would be more appropriate for use in Cats, or just about any other Andrew Lloyd Webber production, than opera.
I couldn't think of a single use in my home or wardrobe where I would even contemplate using it. Of course, with the price, there is no chance of it showing up in my home anyway.
On the luminex website in the techincal info section there is a question about whether or not the fabric emits electromagnetic wave.
Answer: Absolutely Not.
Again, does the light emitting fabric emit electromagnetic waves?
I refer you to the 400 to 700 nm section of your electromagnetic spectrum.