Coming Soon to Your Closet: Clever Clothes

Moving Into Unchartered Territory

The process is "very easy to do," Kotov said, but like so many technologies on the "nano scale," it's likely to be somewhat controversial.

Nanotechnology involves controlling matter on the atomic or molecular scale, and that is taking us into uncharted territory. There is some debate within the scientific community over fears that tiny machines, some of which would be self replicating, could do more harm than good, especially in the many potential applications in public health, pharmaceuticals, electronics and the environment.

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However, at this point, there appears to be only one minor drawback in the Michigan work. The carbon solution turns the yarn black, thus somewhat limiting the range of fashion statements.

In another approach, researchers at the University of Bath in the United Kingdom have invented a thin plastic film that is very flexible and can also conduct electricity. They see a world in which fashion-conscious folks will wear garments made with their film, comprised of thousands of tiny light emitting diodes. That could make it possible to change the color of the garment with the flip of a switch.

Don't like black? How about red? Bingo.

Multi-Purpose Clothing on the Horizon

It's beginning to look like just about everybody wants a piece of the garment industry.

Building on research conducted at the University of California-Davis, a Seattle firm is developing cotton textiles that are treated with an antimicrobial compound that purportedly kills pathogens and viruses, and even wipes out odor-causing bacteria.

Meanwhile, researchers at Binghamton University in New York say they have developed a process that uses ink to conduct electricity, so circuits can be printed on fabric as easily as a newspaper prints yesterday's news. The beauty of this project is the possibility of having clothes that can heat, or cool, the wearer just by flipping a switch.