Material world [fashion-tech innovation]

Every so often a fashion innovation comes along that fits so seamlessly into our lives that we can't imagine a time when it wasn't hanging in our wardrobes. Ready-made, off-the-shelf clothing came about due to innovation in textile manufacturing in the 1830s, the advent of plastic zips in the 1950s revolutionised the fashion industry, and Teflon began to coat uniforms in the 1960s to increase their wearability. Could nanomaterials be the next big fashion-tech innovation? `Fashion tech', a phrase bandied around far too often at sportswear launches, London Fashion Week and wearable device events, has faced widespread criticism by both industries. Beyond sewing LEDs onto dresses and integrating pedometers into bracelets, seemingly few industry experts can pinpoint how technology is going to influence fashion in the future. While thousands of websites are praising a new age of wearable devices and smart materials, Google the phrase `nanomaterials in fashion' and startlingly little has been researched or written. In a modern, tech-savvy age where the fashion and technology sectors are being heralded as industry's most promising new allies, it's a troubling disconnect. It's not an illusion that the fashion industry has been slow to embrace and foster the use of technology within its hallowed halls. In an arena that thrives on the individuality of designers and the protected secrets of original design, few fashion designers have opted to open the closely guarded doors of their fashion-houses to the troublesome influence of engineers and scientists.