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E-Textiles 2018-2028: Technologies, Markets and Players

Electronic fibres, yarns and textiles, and conductive inks, including key innovators, manufacturers, players and products

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We are in contact with textiles for up to 98% of our lives, and they are starting to become intelligent. Part of this revolution includes the integration of electronics and textiles. Electronic textiles (e-textiles) have been in development for decades, but have begun to achieve some commercial successes in the last 20 years. Today, whilst e-textiles markets remain in relative infancy compared to their parents, many industry players are lining up to offer the next generation of smart textile products. From clothing to bandages, bed linen to industrial fabrics, new products are appearing throughout a variety of verticals as this technology area is increasingly explored.
 
This report provides an extremely comprehensive overview of the entire electronic textiles ecosystem. With research over the last 5 years, IDTechEx analysts have compiled details about the entire value chain, revenue data by product type, comments on future market development and forecasts from 2018-2028. The report also includes a list with details of nearly 150 companies and primary interviews with executives and technology experts in over 40 of these players.
 
Percentage of e-textile players using each material type, derived from IDTechEx's survey of over 150 suppliers and manufacturers in the space
Image Source: E-Textiles 2018-2028 (IDTechEx Research)
 
This report covers the entire e-textiles value chain, covering the wide range of materials (including metals, polymers, fibres, yarns, textiles (knitted, woven, embroidered, non-woven) and emerging materials) and components (sensors, connectors and the interface to traditional electronics, etc.) used today. It also presents a roadmap for the future, detailing over 30 different academic and early prototype products in areas such as new conductive fibres, stretchable electronics, energy harvesting, energy storage, logic and memory.
 
In the last few years, IDTechEx has witnessed a developing maturity in the e-textiles value chain. Whilst companies have been able to manufacture and sell e-textiles products for decades, challenges around reliability, cross-compatibility & standards, equipment suitability, materials availability and overhead costs have been prohibitive in many emerging market opportunities. However, thanks to significant investment and partnerships, some of these barriers are being lowered, with more players able to make more advanced e-textile products as less prohibitive prices. These developments improve the chances that emerging e-textile products have against incumbent options in each of the markets they target.
 
These target markets are critical to enabling future business opportunities in the subject. The report characterizes key market sectors including 'Sports & Fitness', 'Medical & Healthcare', 'Wellness', 'Home & Lifestyle', 'Industrial, commercial, military', 'Fashion' and 'Others' (including automotive). For each, we report on progress among key players and projects, as well as outlining the unmet needs, opinions and data on growth potential for each.
 
The big picture for e-textiles is extremely exciting. There is an unquestionable potential when combining the comfort, feel and look of textiles with the functionality, connectivity and intelligence of electronics, and these broad-brush industry sectors give only part of the picture. E-textile products are being explored in many exciting niches, from body motion capture, to prevention of multi-billion dollar diseases and side effects, to improving road safety, and many more. Many such areas are discussed in the report, including the latest activities from the most relevant players.
 
With continuous parallel research across the emerging technology ecosystem (including reports on conductive inks, stretchable electronics, wearable technology, printed electronics, printed and flexible sensors, the Internet of Things, emerging energy storage, and many more) IDTechEx has leveraged a broad network and experience across the team of expert analysts for this research. On top of this, IDTechEx hosts leading events covering e-textile technology, and the analyst team travels, speaks and meets companies globally each year. The result of these efforts enables this report to be the most comprehensive characterisation of the e-textiles industry today, and an excellent resource for any player involved or actively investigating this space.
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1.EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1.1.Market forecast for e-textiles, by industry sector
1.2.Current market dynamic and historic sales
1.3.Short term forecast: refining business models
1.4.Smart textile industry topics and value chain
1.5.Commercial progress with e-textile projects
2.INTRODUCTION
2.1.Definitions
2.2.E-Textiles: Where textiles meet electronics
2.3.The intersection of electronics and textiles industries
2.4.Examples of e-textile products today
2.5.Context within the broader subject: Wearable Technology
2.6.Key trends in wearable technology
2.7.Related applications in Technical Textiles
2.8.Modern developments in context: Woven Electronics®
2.9.Prominent related areas to e-textiles
2.10.Electromagnetic Shielding
2.11.Antistatic protective clothing
2.12.Antimicrobial textiles
2.13.Thermal regulation in textiles
2.14.Protective clothing for impact resistance
2.15.Colour changes in textiles
2.16.Strategies for creating textile-integrated electronics
2.17.Challenges when moving into the e-textiles space
2.18.Parallel investments in textile innovation
3.E-TEXTILE MATERIALS AND COMPONENTS
3.1.E-textiles materials use today
3.2.Introduction: Fibres, yarns and textiles
3.3.Entirely metallic fabrics
3.4.Metal-plated fabrics
3.5.Selective etching of metal-plated textiles
3.6.Use of metal cabling
3.7.Textile Cabling
3.8.Metal wiring integrated into textiles
3.9.Fibres & Yarns
3.10.Conductive yarns from Natural Fibre Welding
3.11.Hybrid yarns can be conductive, elastic and comfortable
3.12.Textiles and Fabrics
3.13.Woven e-textiles
3.14.Example: Project Jacquard
3.15.Knitted e-textiles
3.16.Example: Knitted conductors by Gunze, Japan
3.17.Embroidered e-textiles
3.18.Inks and Encapsulation
3.19.An explosion in ink suppliers for e-textiles
3.20.Conductive polymers
3.21.Polymeric electrodes in compression garments
3.22.Example suppliers for each material type
3.23.Working alongside conventional electronics
3.24.Connectors for e-textiles
3.25.Connector options today
3.26.Snap fasteners
3.27.Thermoplastic adhesive bonding: Fraunhofer IZM
3.28.Soldering
3.29.Conductive adhesives
3.30.Metallic contacts: conventional and bespoke
3.31.Embroidery
3.32.Component types: who is making what?
4.ENABLING TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE FUTURE OF E-TEXTILES
4.1.Emerging types of electrically active fibres and textiles
4.2.European Commission projects
4.3.New conductive fibres from industry and academia
4.4.Novel approaches to conductive textiles: CNT & graphene
4.5.RFID Yarns for asset tracking
4.6.Integrating other electronics within yarns
4.7.Encapsulation of semiconductor chips within yarns
5.EXAMPLES OF STRETCHABLE CONDUCTIVE FIBRES
5.1.UT, Dallas: SEBS / NTS stretchable wires
5.2.Sungkyunkwan University - PU & Ag nanoflowers
5.3.MIT: Stretch sensors using CNTs on polybutyrate
6.ENERGY HARVESTING TECHNIQUES IN TEXTILES
6.1.Piezoelectric fibres: Georgia Institute of Technology, USA
6.2.Piezoelectric fibres: University of Bolton, UK
6.3.Piezoelectric Fabric
6.4.Piezoelectric Fabric: University of Bolton, UK
6.5.Concordia University XS Labs, Canada
6.6.Cornell University, USA
6.7.Georgia Institute of Technology, USA
6.8.Southampton University, UK
6.9.University of California Berkeley, USA
6.10.Energy-Scavenging Nanofibers: UC Berkeley, USA
6.11.Photovoltaic Fibres
6.12.Illuminex, USA
6.13.Penn State University, USA
6.14.University of Southampton, UK
6.15.Multi-mode energy harvesting in textiles
6.16.Textile Supercapacitors
6.17.Drexel University, USA
6.18.Imperial College London, UK
6.19.Stanford University, USA
6.20.University of Delaware, USA
6.21.University of Wollongong, Australia
6.22.Flexible Woven Batteries
6.23.Polytechnic School of Montreal, Canada
6.24.Logic and Memory
7.CASE STUDY - SMART CLOTHING: PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE
7.1.75 years of 'Smart Clothing'
7.2.Early commercial examples: Infineon, Philips, O'Neill
7.3.Related products: HRM Chest Straps
7.4.Integrating HRM into clothing
7.5.The wearable technology boom
7.6.The implications of BLE for smart clothing
7.7.Who uses smart clothing today?
7.8.Examples from key sectors
7.9.Large players enter the market: 3 strategies
8.E-TEXTILES MARKETS
8.1.When will we see the first mass market e-textile product?
8.2.Categorisation by market sector
8.3.Sports & Fitness: Overview
8.4.Sports & Fitness: Key product characteristics
8.5.Sports & Fitness: The impact of VC funding
8.6.Sports & Fitness: Interest from large players
8.7.Sports & Fitness: Startups
8.8.Wellness
8.9.Medical & Healthcare
8.10.Example: Pressure ulcer monitoring in hospitals
8.11.Home & Lifestyle
8.12.Hospitality markets
8.13.Industrial, Commercial, Military
8.14.Fashion
8.15.Examples of high fashion and bespoke work
8.16.Others: Vehicular Interiors
8.17.Others: Wearable Technology for animals
9.MARKET FORECASTS 2018-2028
9.1.Market forecast for e-textiles, by industry sector
9.2.Comparing forecasts (2017 vs 2018 versions)
9.3.Current market dynamic and historic sales
9.4.Short term forecast: refining business models
9.5.CAGR by industry sector
9.6.Market forecast for e-textiles: by product type (revenue)
9.7.Market forecast for e-textiles: by product type (volume)
9.8.Consumer apparel & Fashion
9.9.Sport & Fitness
9.10.Home & lifestyle
9.11.Medical & Healthcare
9.12.Wellness
9.13.Industrial, Commercial, Military
9.14.Other Markets
9.15.Technology development (pre-market)
10.PRIMARY RESEARCH AND INTERVIEWS FROM MAJOR EVENTS
10.1.Event reports: Contents
10.2.The IDTechEx Show! - Santa Clara, CA (November 2016)
10.2.1.Bando Chemical
10.2.2.Fisk Alloy
10.2.3.Hitachi Chemical
10.2.4.Holst Centre
10.2.5.KIMS & KIMM: conductive textiles
10.2.6.MAS Holdings / Flex
10.2.7.Myant
10.2.8.Panasonic
10.2.9.Parker Hannifin
10.2.10.Polymatech
10.2.11.Sensing Tex
10.2.12.Stretchsense
10.2.13.Toyobo
10.2.14.Vista Medical
10.3.CES 2017 - Las Vegas, NV (January 2017)
10.3.1.Clim8
10.3.2.CloudTot
10.3.3.Conscious Labs
10.3.4.Evalu
10.3.5.King Abdullah University, Saudi Arabia
10.3.6.Under Armour
10.3.7.Vitali
10.4.Textile International Forum and Exhibition 2017
10.4.1.Overview
10.4.2.Are Standards Fit for Purpose?
10.4.3.Medical-Grade Signals
10.4.4.Circular Economy
10.4.5.Taiwan Textile Research Institute Exhibition
10.4.6.Exhibition
10.4.7.Patient Monitoring
10.4.8.Patient Monitoring: live trial in a Taipei hospital
10.4.9.Lighting
10.4.10.Sports
10.4.11.Other Functional Fabrics
10.5.Korean smart textiles development flourishes amidst government funding of Industry 4.0 trends
10.5.1.Contents
10.5.2.Event summary: "Preview in Seoul 2017"
10.5.3.Incorporation of decorative LEDs
10.5.4.Decorative LEDs in apparel and accessories
10.5.5.Pairing decorative LEDs with additional sensors
10.5.6.E-textile sports apparel
10.5.7.Sports apparel: Muscle intensity
10.5.8.Outdoor apparel: solar cell jacket
10.5.9.Integrated PPE systems
10.5.10.Integrating sensors into gloves
10.5.11.Resistive heating in blankets
10.5.12.Smart insoles for gait analysis
10.5.13.E-textile keyboard
10.5.14.E-textiles for automotive interiors
10.5.15.E-textiles for automotive interiors (cont.)
10.5.16.KITECH
10.5.17.KTDI - Voice interfaces via a jacket
10.5.18.Industry 4.0 for the textile industry
10.5.19.Conclusions
10.6.E-textiles at CES 2018
10.6.1.CES 2018: E-textiles remain strong as other wearable sectors decline
10.6.2.@-Health - CardioNexion®
10.6.3.Advanpro - Softceptor®
10.6.4.Advanpro - apparel products
10.6.5.Advanpro - home products
10.6.6.Biosense
10.6.7.Mitsufuji Corporation
10.6.8.Mitsufuji - hamon®
10.6.9.Mitsufuji
10.6.10.Mitsufuji & Kaji Group
10.6.11.Myant - new products, new partnerships
10.6.12.QUS - sanSiro, Fussenegger & Grabher, V-Trion, etc.
10.6.13.QUS - product
10.6.14.Texible and Aura (partner products)
10.6.15.QUS (handout)
10.6.16.Rest Devices
10.6.17.Sensoria
10.6.18.Sensoria - products update
10.6.19.Sensoria & Optima Molliter: diabetic footwear
10.6.20.Siren Care Denmark IVS
10.6.21.Thread In Motion
10.6.22.Thread In Motion (additional material)
10.6.23.Xenoma
11.INTERVIEW BASED COMPANY PROFILES
11.1.@-Health
11.2.Adidas Wearable Sports Electronics
11.3.AiQ Smart Clothing
11.4.Antelope (Wearable Life Sciences)
11.5.Bebop Sensors
11.6.Breath!
11.7.Brochier Technologies
11.8.Cityzen Sciences
11.9.Clim8
11.10.Clothing+
11.11.Eurecat (CETEMMSA)
11.12.Flex
11.13.Footfalls & Heartbeats
11.14.Forster Rohner Textile Innovations
11.15.Hexoskin
11.16.IMEC
11.17.Infi-tex
11.18.Intelligent Textiles
11.19.Interactive Wear AG
11.20.Luminet Technologies
11.21.MAS Holdings
11.22.MC10
11.23.Medical Design Solutions
11.24.Minnesota Wire Corporation
11.25.Mitsufuji Corporation
11.26.Ohmatex
11.27.Samsara S.r.l. (Dreamlux)
11.28.Sarvint Technologies
11.29.Sensing Tex
11.30.Sensoria
11.31.Siren Care Denmark
11.32.Smartlife
11.33.SRI International
11.34.Stretchsense
11.35.Vista Medical
11.36.Vitali
11.37.Xenoma
 

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The market for e-textiles will reach over $2bn per year by 2028

Report Statistics

Slides 395
Companies 37
Forecasts to 2028
 

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