Power Fashion.
Energy harvesting and microelectronics for wearable devices.
Applications
Sportswear and technical apparel with biometric and environmental monitoring; supply chain traceability; personal protective equipment (PPE)
Value
Wearable devices powered by solar and kinetic energy, without traditional batteries: a new user experience that combines functionality, sustainability, and aesthetics.
Technology
Flexible photovoltaic energy harvesting; microelectronics on flexible substrates; biometric and environmental sensors; tracking tags; ultra-low-energy connectivity
- Data Collection
- Energy
- Soft skills
Problem
Technical and sportswear is increasingly expected to incorporate digital features —such as biometric monitoring, environmental sensing, and supply chain traceability—without compromising on style, comfort, and sustainability.
The critical issue is power supply: traditional batteries impose constraints in terms of weight, size, charging, and end-of-life management that are incompatible with the requirements of an everyday wearable garment. At the same time, integrating electronic circuits onto flexible and textile substrates requires a range of interdisciplinary skills that are rarely found within a single player in the fashion supply chain.
The result is that most smart textile prototypes remain confined to the research phase, unable to make the leap to scalable, reliable products that are truly appealing to the market.
Solution
POWER FASHION is an experimental development project co-funded by the Lombardy Region as part of the NEXT FASHION call for proposals (ERDF OP 2021–2027), which aims to prototype a new generation of self-powered wearables: wearable devices that draw energy from the wearer’s kinetic energy and sunlight via flexible photovoltaic cells integrated into the fabric—invisible to the eye but crucial to the system’s energy autonomy.
S&H leads the partnership as the technology leader, responsible for coordinating the entire project and carrying out key activities related to electronics development.
The development of self-powered device technologies enables the integration of advanced sensors into clothing for environmental monitoring (such as VOCs or hazardous gases in explosion-prone environments), the measurement of biometric data (such as heart rate and VO2 during physical activity), and lighting systems (for both aesthetic and safety purposes).
In addition to system sizing, hardware and firmware development, and the development of apps and remote management platforms, one of the project’s main challenges involves developing privacy-preserving strategies to ensure compliance with personal data protection standards and to leverage the potential of new business models enabled by the technology
The project is being carried out in collaboration with FRAMIS Italia, Linificio, Canapificio Nazionale, and the Carlo Secoli Institute, covering the entire value chain of smart textiles, from fiber to hardware.
S&H oversaw the system design, the entire hardware and software development, electronic prototyping, and data management, bringing to the fashion industry the expertise it has gained over more than forty years in industrial electronics, power electronics, and connected IoT solutions.
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Collaborations
S&h has carried out projects in collaboration with leading universities and companies, including: CERN, University of Milan, Milan Polytechnic, BRIN and Studio Palmanova 28.
