Page 18 - New Cloth Market December 2022 Digital Edition

ments. The interdisciplinary TaDA designer Laura Deschl worked electrically conductive fibers into a shirt
that change their resistance depending on how much they are stretched. This allows the shirt to monitor
how much the subjects' chest and abdomen rise and fall while they breathe, allowing conclusions to be
AGES
drawn about breathing activity. Continuous monitoring of respiratory activity is of particular interest for
patients during the recovery phase after surgery and for patients who are being treated with painkillers.
Such a shirt could also be helpful for patients with breathing problems such as sleep apnea or asthma.
Moreover, Deschl embroidered electrically conductive fibers from Empa into the shirt, which are needed
to connect to the measuring device and were visually integrated into the shirt's design pattern.
The Textile and Design Alliance is a pilot program of A network for the textile industry, culture and
the cultural promotion of the cantons of Appenzell research
Ausserrhoden, St.Gallen and Thurgau to promote
cooperation between creative artists from all over
the world and the textile industry. Through interna-
tional calls for proposals, cultural workers from all
disciplines are invited to spend three months work-
ing in the textile industry in eastern Switzerland. The
TaDA network comprises 13 cooperation partners –
textile companies, cultural, research and educational
EXECUTIVE P
institutions – and thus offers the creative artists
direct access to highly specialized know-how and
technical means of production in order to work, re-
search and experiment on their textile projects on T-shirt with breathing sensors: The textile sen-
site. This artistic creativity is in turn made available sors are incorporated into the garment. Image:
to the partners as innovative potential. Empa
During the project, Laura Deschl was supported by Schoeller Textil AG (raw material), Lobra (transfer
printing) and the Saurer Museum (conductive embroidery) in the realization of the prototype. In addition,
she received expert guidance regarding print quality from Martin Leuthold. Ideas for a continuation of the
project are already available; they aim at a smart patient clothing that can detect and measure the most
important physiological parameters without additional sensor technology.
About TaDA
TaDA – Textile and Design Alliance is a cultural promotion programme. Its goal is to promote artistic
discussion with the eastern Swiss textile and design culture and thus strengthen the regional identity. A
connection to practice and to the textile companies established in the region is a central component and
fruitful for both sides. TaDA offers on an annual basis a work stay in Switzerland to six to eight national and
international personalities. The residents develop innovative projects in the fields of art, design, architec-
ture, literature, the performing arts or in transdisciplinary contexts. As programme partners textile and
design companies in Eastern Switzerland make their know-how and technology available to the artists,
thus giving the residents an opportunity to do practical and artistic work and carry out applied research.
On their part the partners benefit from the creative exchange with the art practitioners invited. On the
occasion of the annual event "TaDA Spinnerei" the work results are presented to the public and dis-
cussed.
"TaDA Spinnerei"
The "TaDA Spinnerei" is an annual event where the results from the TaDA Residency are presented to a
broad public. On the one hand, TaDA Residents present their projects, which they developed together with
partner companies. What is unusual about this is that it is always interdisciplinary. And the partner com-
panies report on their experiences during their collaboration with TaDA. At the same time, TaDA also sets
new topics – always from an ecological and social angle. This year, the possibilities and framework
conditions of sustainable production will be fanned out – here, too, the diversity of perspectives is in-
tended to reveal new approaches.
Today the clothing industry in the EU is struggling against cheap imports from Asian countries.
Production escaped to lowcost countries first from Sweden and Finland, and now the same is
happening in the other Baltic Sea countries. Ergonomically designed, functional smart clothing
and safe products are the competitive advantage in the competition against low priced import
when trying to retain and develop business in the Baltic Sea Region (BSR). Latvia and Finland
have specific knowhow in smart textiles and their applications in textiles and clothing, whereas
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland are the main producers in the Baltic Sea area.

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