ABSTRACT
The many different types and forms of textile materials that are currently commercially available have
one thing in common. The fabrics are passive, and cannot respond or interact by active human control
with the environment into which they are placed. However, over the past decade there has been growing
interest in the textile industry to integrate electronic circuitry into textiles to modify the functionality of
the apparel. In this emerging field of ‘‘smart fabrics and intelligent textiles,’’ a new class of apparel is
envisioned, which has active functions embedded in the garment in addition to the traditional prop-
erties of clothing. These novel functions or properties are obtained by using special textile fabrics that
are interfaced with electronic devices integrated into the garment. Opportunities exist for the use of
these smart fabrics and intelligent textiles in the areas of fashion and industrial apparel, residential and
commercial interior, military and medical textile markets. For example, applications that have been
envisaged for these materials include wearable computing fabric, antistatic garments, garments with
electromagnetic shielding capabilities, remote monitoring of a patient’s physiologic status, thermal
regulation of sports or military garments, data transfer within clothing for military applications, and
sensory fabrics that can dynamically interact with changing environmental conditions and respond to
that change in a controllable manner [1-5].
