Categories: Technology

Your T-Shirt Is Alive: Augmented Reality Embedded Into Clothes

Augmented reality is coming to a to a t-shirt near you…and very soon! Dartmouth, Nova Scotia-based Ad-Dispatch has developed an app that works similar to QR Codes, but picks up on embedded images in the design of your t-shirt. Scanning the special shirts with your mobile phone, for example, will bring to life the character associated with the brand. The company already has working relationships with several major US department stores (WalMart, JC Penney, Sears, Macy’s), so it’s not a stretch to visualize them working on Disney licensed products.

I can see it now. The whole fam damily is walking through Walt Disney World and my six-year-old suddenly grabs my cell phone and starts scanning the Tinkerbell t-shirts. Next thing you know, Tink is flitting her way right into said daughter’s heart and Mom and Pop shell out the dough for the darned shirt. But I digress…

President and CEO, Nathan Kroll (@addispatchnate) says there are 39 “experiences” and over 50 products waiting to be launched. At a recent media conference, they demonstrated the app by scanning a guitar-themed t-shirt and bringing up a virtual guitar on the phone. You can check out their YouTube Channel to see demos of all their great AR stuff.

Image Credit: [The Chronicle Herald]

Anita Hovey

Anita is commonly referred to as the Head Twirp. By day she's a mild-mannered (NOT) social media consultant and trainer, at her own company Twirp Communications. By night she's a paper crafting super hero (PERHAPS). Addicted to all things pretty and frilly, lover of all colors, chewer of cinnamon gum, wearer of awesome boots, and not afraid to admit her friends live in her computer. She just wishes Dexter Morgan and Eric Northman would come OUT of her computer.