Color Changing Clothes That You Adjust Instantly With Smartphone App

Recently we featured a smart shirt concept design, which is a shirt that senses the dress code and automatically change its colors and patterns. But I can think of something better than that. How would you like to change the colors and patterns of your clothes instantly with a smartphone app? This wearable tech was just introduced at the International Symposium on Wearable Computers in Zurich. It’s a collection of color changing clothes.

The collection is called Lume, and right now it only consists of a tunic, a bomber jacket and a black dress. Built into each piece are a series of LEDs that can be controlled with a smartphone app. Don’t think of this as just wearing bright bulbs of color – this is much more sophisticated than that. These LEDs are sandwiched between several layers of fabric, and when they glow, the light is diffused and it puts off a soft color.

These color changing clothes were designed by Elizabeth Bigger. You can use the corresponding smartphone app to select the colors and patterns, or you can take a photo of something you want to match. For example, if you want to pick up a color in your favorite pair of shoes, you could take a photo of that color and instantly your dress would match.

I’ve written before about how in the future, the way we clothe ourselves will change. It’s inefficient the way we do it now. We buy clothes, wear them a few times, and leave them hanging in our closets. In the future, we will be able to recycle clothes in a machine similar to a washing machine or printer over and over again to create different outfits with the fabric (you can read more about that at The Innovative Way We May Get Our Clothes In 2050).

Or, we will make adjustments to our clothes with an app. These color changing clothes aren’t a concept design. They are real, and they exist now. You can read more about it on the New Scientist link below. Regardless of what ends up becoming mainstream, it’s an exciting time for wearable tech as all these creative options reveal themselves.