New ‘smart apparel’ may boost local clothing manufacturers

Korea has developed a new line of digital technology-based “smart apparel” that could bolster the competitiveness of local clothing makers, the government said yesterday. “The new clothes are made of textiles that can transmit digital signals and have a built-in MP3 player,” said Hwang Kyu-yearn, head of the Commerce and Industry Ministry’s textile department. He said even though the products can be used to play music, they have the texture of normal clothes and can be washed after the headphones are removed. Production of the clothing is expected to begin by the end of the year. The product was made by researchers at Yonsei University in Seoul, with two clothing manufacturers responsible for making the finished product. The emergence of rivals in China and other developing countries has severely hurt Korea’s textile and clothing industry. In order to assist the local industry, the government set up a joint research and development arrangement with local companies and academia to make smart clothes. Korean textile and clothing exports fell 6.2 percent from a year ago to $6.5 billion in the first half. The exports have been dropping by this margin for several years. “The smart clothes development project is part of this effort, with the government footing half of the $15 billion price tag for the five-year project, which ends in July 2009,” said Mr. Hwang. In addition to the MP3 clothes, engineers and clothing manufactures plan to release several other lines of high-tech clothing including garments that can sense climate and body temperature, and help release or generate heat. Also being developed are clothes that can relay one’s pulse and other biological signals to a monitoring machine while a person is exercising, or clothes with encoded data to help lost children find parents. These clothes are near completion and should be ready for production by the end of next year. The Commerce and Industry Ministry said the development of MP3 clothes is expected to give the country a good start on an industry that promises considerable growth down the line. In 2008, it said, the global market for smart clothes may reach $200 million, and the figure could jump to $700 million in 2010 and exceed $7 billion by 2014.