Google works with Levi Strauss on "smart" clothes
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Google works with Levi Strauss on "smart" clothes

Google works with Levi Strauss on "smart" clothes

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(AGI) San Francisco (California), May 30 - Google is workingwith jeans cult brand Levi Strauss on designing "smart" clothesfitted with a touch-screen function. The Internet giantadvertised its new initiative during its annual meeting in SanFrancisco: it is called "Project Jacquard" and Levi Srauss isthe Company's leading partner. The project is being broughtforward by a team specialised in Advanced Technology andProjects (ATAP), which is different from Google's team ofexperts who develop innovative technology like driverless cars.While illustrating the innovative fabric issuing from whatappeared to be a loom, Emre Karagozler, of the ATAP team,defined it as an "interactive textile": "We do it by weavingconductive threads into fabric," he explained. These specialthreads can be woven into a wide variety of fabrics and be, orbe made to be, invisible once they are finished; conductivitycan also be limited to desired parts of fabric or spread acrossentire cloth. The cloth "is stretchable; it is washable,"Karagozler said while his assistants regulated the roomlighting and computer displays by passing their fingers over ablue table-cloth spread over a table. The touch-sensitivetechnology can be contained in the fibres of the fabric ofclothes but eventually also in furniture or carpets. Conductive yarn is connected to tiny circuits, no bigger thanjacket buttons, with miniaturized electronics that can usealgorithms to recognize touches or swipes, ATAP said. The datacan be sent via wireless to smartphones or other devices,enabling actions such as making phone calls or sending messageswith brushes of fabric. "In our hyper-digital world, peopleconstantly struggle to be physically present in theirenvironment while maintaining a digital connection," said LeviStraus's head of global product innovation Paul Dillinger. Headded: "The work that Google and Levi's are embarking upon withProject Jacquard delivers an entirely new value to consumerswith apparel that is emotional, aspirational and functional.". .
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