Wednesday interview: Robin Shephard of Eleksen on the future for smart fabrics

Smart fabrics were once The Future (in between pet robots and Segways, if my memory serves me correctly. But I still don't see too many people walking down my local high street controlling their iPods by thumping their coat sleeves.

Eleksen is one of the few companies that's actually released smart fabric products, working with firms like O'Neill, Spyder, Kenpo and Koyono as well as launching its own products.

"The smart fabrics market has been discussed and considered for many years, but it's never really begun to happen," says CEO Robin Shephard. "But now it seems like it's really beginning to develop and take off." Read on to find out why.

On one hand, smart fabrics can be used to create the wallet-cum-keyboards that will be familiar to PDA fans. And while there are interesting developments coming in this area - more of which later - it's the other strand of the market that's more interesting yet less successful: fashion.

Incorporating technology in clothing has thus far been mainly a case of putting iPod controls in ski jackets and rucksacks. But even then, it seemed to be something that the clothing companies were just experimenting with to surf the techno-bionic-zeitgeist. With seams. But their attitudes are changing, says Shephard.

"The iPod has changed the way that companies in this market look at products," says Shephard. "They don't just consider functionality. There's a lot more emphasis on lifestyle, sex appeal and form factor. That's been important in the development of the smart fabrics marketplace."

Pricing is another factor. It's now much cheaper to produce 'smart' jackets and bags. So while a few years ago you could expect to pay $250 or more for a smart-fabric ski jacket, now Eleksen's tech is in jackets selling for around $99 in the US. This, together with the boom in devices like the iPod, means smart fabric products aren't just targeted at rich geeks who ski - a limited demographic, you'd think.

"12-18 months ago, it was about marketing smart clothing for the geeks," says Shephard. "We're getting to a position now where we can start talking about dumb clothing. I'd like to think that in one or two years time, people will be wondering why their clothing CAN'T do anything, rather than whether it can. The price point will mean you might as well have this technology in there to control the variety of devices that you might have on your person."

This is helped by the fact that the fashion industry is apparently throwing its weight (no jokes about models, please) behind incorporating more technology into its clothes - particularly the newer designers who are both more tech-savvy, and keen to explore new ideas.

Shephard says the development of wireless technologies has been a key factor too, reducing the need to have wires dangling all over the place. "They can really make the technology disappear into their products now," he says. "You don't see it, but you still get the functionality. It's taken time for both sides though. Fashion is a new world for me, I've never really been associated with fashion or design. So while they're scared of electronics, I'm equally scared of them!"

There's also rapid developments in Eleksen's less fashionable side of the business - the device input products. Those PDA wallets for example. Shephard cites as an example Microsoft's recently announced Ultra-Mobile PC platform - lightweight computers that don't have a keyboard.

"It's conceptually an interesting idea, but it does necessitate new ways to put information into it," says Shephard. "You can use the device screen itself, but we're working with Microsoft on a variety of new products, like carry cases and covers, which double up using our smart fabrics as data input devices. They're completely soft-programmable too, so they can be a writing pad one minute, a mouse pad the next, then a QWERTY keyboard."

But back to the clothing to finish off. Something Shephard says intrigues me, that once we have flexible screen technology, we'll see another leap forward in wearable smart fabrics. What does he mean? Big Brother on people's jumpers? Please no. But thankfully, that doesn't seem to be on the agenda yet.

Instead, it means tying in with another Microsoft technology, Windows SlideShow. I thought it was just about laptops having secondary screens to show important information, but apparently it could also have applications for clothing.

"It's about bringing you information from your laptop or Ultra-Mobile PC like emails, text messages or meetings on a remote screen," says Shephard. "There's no reason why this couldn't be a flexible screen on the arm of your jacket. That's the next step for this wearable technology, although it's a couple of years away."