At Milan Fashion Week held on February 23, Hong Kong fashion brand Anteprima showcased a collection featuring radiant, color-changing knitted garments and an illuminating handbag. This marked a significant milestone in the fashion industry as it reflects the growing embrace of artificial intelligence (AI) to offer fresh, innovative experiences to consumers. The cutting-edge material, developed by the Hong Kong-based Laboratory for Artificial Intelligence in Design (AiDLab), is the world’s first textile capable of contactless gesture recognition, and illuminates different colors through a patented design comprising a polymeric optical fiber structure.
The advanced textile comes equipped with an integrated camera that employs AI algorithms to process images and generate various color illuminations. This illuminative effect can be controlled through hand and body gestures, Bluetooth, or even a remote control. The flexibility and tactile nature of the knitted material allow for a broad spectrum of applications, offering a transformative and interactive user experience.
Unlike conventional textiles, this unique material has the capability to respond and adapt to the ever-changing needs of modern consumers. According to Dr. Jeanne Tan, associate professor at the School of Fashion and Textiles at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and assistant director of AiDLab, the research team aimed to develop a textile that integrates AI technologies like gesture recognition and user-friendly applications to enhance everyday user experience.
The resultant material is not only stretchable and machine-washable but also environmentally-friendly. Unlike traditional textiles that rely on cut-and-sew methods, this knitted textile can be directly shaped for assembly, resulting in minimal waste. Furthermore, it can be knitted using industry-standard machines, making large-scale production feasible.
Anteprima’s incorporation of the AI-powered textile in their Autumn/Winter 2023 collection at Milan Fashion Week demonstrates the material’s appeal to the luxury industry. According to Izumi Ogino, the founder and creative director of Anteprima, the advanced functionality and aesthetic appeal of the innovative textile presented an exciting opportunity to redefine fashion design boundaries. She employed the textile’s features to seamlessly integrate lighting elements and interactive features into the collection, creating a stunning visual representation of motion and fluidity.
However, the journey of innovating with this untested textile was not without challenges. Rigorous research, experimentation, and close collaboration with engineers and technicians were necessary to understand the fabric’s properties and to incorporate it into the designs without compromising its integrity.
Despite the difficulties, the fashion industry’s reception was overwhelmingly positive. The intelligent textile was recognized with Germany’s prestigious iF Design Award in May. In addition, AiDLab recently introduced a feature enabling wearers to extract colors from their mobile phone images for display on the fabric, reflecting the ongoing innovation in this groundbreaking marriage of fashion and AI.
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