Shannon Hoover and Sydney Pratte
Fashion tells a story of who we are, expressing the opinions and positions of both wearers and designers. Fashion-tech -- fashion embedded with programmable electronics -- offers more dynamic expressions for fashion. This talk will first discuss the importance and direction of fashion-tech in our society today and in the future. We will also discuss lessons learned from our collective 15 years of experience as fashion-tech designers and common issues designers face creating such garments. From our experience, we have begun research and development of a kit, that requires no coding and no soldering, to help designers move past technological barriers and enable more creative exploration during the design process. Lowering technical barriers not only affects fashion-tech but opens new possibilities for art and innovation.