Transcriber: Sarah Alonso Reviewer: Elisabeth Buffard
I feel it's very important to make the fashion industry more sustainable.
It's the second most polluting industry in the world,
but solar technology is developing and is becoming more thin and flexible
and this really gives new opportunities for fashion.
(Music)
[make it wearable]
[The Concepts: Episode 4] [Solar-Powered Clothing]
[Pauline Von Dongen is a designer
working to bring new technologies, like solar power, into fashion]
I'm a fashion designer working in the field of wearable technology
implementing new technologies to make our garments respond in a different way
and therefore, also communicate in a different way.
(Music)
Wearable technology is able to connect
different industries that were not connected before.
I'm being connected with people from the solar energy industry
and we look at what we can mean for each other to advance our idea
of what fashion is or could be in the future.
(Music)
(Applause)
Hi there. Good afternoon.
My name is Pauline van Dongen,
I'm a fashion designer specialized in wearable technology,
but most of all, I'm a curious person.
My inquisitive nature often drives me towards things
that I don't know or do not master in terms of skills.
A big part of my part of my work evolves around creating something that is new.
It's about adapting knowledge and processes
from outside of my design practice
and looking at how fashion can benefit from it.
So let me ask you:
how many of you were already familiar with the term wearable technology?
Please raise your hand.
Wow, this is really good. Great.
And how many of you already own a piece of wearable technology?
OK, this could be a little bit better.
I'd like to show you some examples of my work to give you an insight
in how wearable technology will develop in the near future
and especially what it can mean to all of us.
Technology is often seen as something harsh and metallic,
but I aim to make it soft
by naturalizing it and bringing it close to the body.
Nowadays, we see a lot of garments where technology has been put on,
but I believe that ultimately,
the technology should become invisible, working from the inside out.
So by experimenting with new materials and technologies,
I constantly try to innovate traditional craftsmanship.
An example of my approach is this shoe design
that I developed in 2010 and [that] became
the first fully 3D-printed shoe design in the world.
I'm very interested in the concept of liquid modernity
which was introduced by the sociologist Zygmunt Bauman.
It describes the idea
that our contemporary surroundings are constantly changing
and they have become liquid under the influence of technology.
So for me, the future of fashion lies
in its premise to be dynamic, adaptive, and responsive,
just like these fluid surroundings.
So for one of my recent collections, I developed a dynamic textile
that would enhance the interaction between the body and the garment.
I used a neoprene that I laser-engraved into this resilient line pattern
and these lines would change their expression
along with the body's movement.
To illustrate the idea of liquid modernity,
I'd like to show you a project that I did back in 2012.
It's called the Flip Dot Dress.
It's made up of tiny flip dots
which are electromagnetic discs that can flip from one side to the other.
And this kinetic garment can respond to the surroundings in terms of sound.
And not only did I want to mount 600 of these on the garment,
I also wanted to address each dot individually
so that the garment could actually function as a display.
So, I quite naively put myself to the task
of creating this wiring diagram which became quite a challenging puzzle,
— because I had limited experience with creating electrical circuits —
but I had a partner in crime, Daniel Schatzmayr,
who is an electrical engineer and robo-techer,
and together with him, few fashion students and engineering ones
we made over 4,500 soldering connections.
And you have to believe me, this is a very organized chaos.
(Laughter)
We also developed a custom-made PCB
so that we could wirelessly communicate with the dress.
after a while, on the inside,
when we hooked it up, it looked like this.
The PCB is placed right at the back,
in between the shoulders.
And the amazing thing was
that we were able to complete the full design in only one month's time.
[Technology gives us new choices, new possibilities.]
To me, the fascinating thing about technology
is that it constantly gives us new choices, new possibilities.
To me, it's not only a tool
but even more so, an aesthetic.
My recent project, Wearable Solar,
shows the importance of creating something that is desirable
because in the end, people should actually like to wear it.
Our society highly depends on connectivity.
I bet that most of you are addicted to your smartphones, just like me,
and we want them to be constantly powered.
But the better our batteries get, the more we'll use them.
There are two things we always have with us when we leave the house:
our clothing, — at least I hope we're all dressed —
(Laughter)
and our phone.
So, why not power your phone through your clothes?
Wearable solar gives you the opportunity
to charge your phone on the go, wherever you are.
For these projects, I collaborated
with a business developer and a solar energy expert.
We started out looking
at various solar cells that were available on the market,
we looked at their efficiency, the way that they could be integrated,
— because you can't simply sew them; you would immediately short-circuit them.
I also started looking at the way these solar cells are built
So for the design concept, I looked at this layer buildup
and this interaction of all these layers with the sunlight,
and I immediately started comparing this
with the stratification of the human skin.
And then I translated this idea into a modular design
that comprises of parts with solar cells that can be revealed when the sun shines,
or folded away and worn invisibly when they're not directly needed.
And each of them when worn in full sun for only two hours
will charge your phone from zero to 100%.
These designs are still prototypes
because the cells that we used were not specifically made for textile.
One of the main issues, for instance, is that they're not washable.
So we are now looking at solar-harvesting fibers,
printable solar cells,
and washable textile circuits to upgrade the design.
I've placed these two striking designs in the high fashion market,
but the concept has a wide range of applications:
you can think of casual wear, sportswear, military gear,
or even sails of tens of boats.
And today I have a small premiere for you
because I brought with me one of the designs that we just made.
It incorporates the world's most efficient and flexible solar panel
and it's actually integrated in such a way
that you can separate it from the garment in case of cleaning.
So our model Constance is now pairing up her phone,
plugging it to the micro USB,
and she can immediately start charging —even with the light here inside.
We don't necessarily always need the sun.
Thank you very much.
(Applause)
I wasn't done yet.
We can ultimately use the generated energy for other interactive qualities,
like powering the light in this jacket that I've designed for Philips.
So, as you've seen today,
I'm often trying to unite two seemingly divergent industries.
Working in wearable tech
requires a new way of thinking about garment construction,
manufacturing, life cycles, but also washing and repairing.
These are some of the things that I'm currently researching
as part of my PhD program called Crafting Wearables
at the University of Technology in Eindhoven.
But probably the best thing that I can share with you today
is that there is no secret recipe for making the impossible.
From my point of view, it's all about collaboration.
It's the network and the exchange of knowledge and experience
that really matters.
Often we are unaware of what new developments might mean to us.
Like, for instance,
when we were first introduced to the computer or the mobile phone.
Nobody knew what to do with it.
We didn't need them. But now, yes, we do.
So, today, I hope I gave you a better understanding
of what the future of fashion beholds for all of us.
And please keep in mind that we are only just at the start of it.
Thank you very much.
(Applause)