Hi, I am studying Performance Sportswear Design at the University of Derby in the UK. I am currently researching for design for cyclists and other commuters who travel within cities. I aim to provide clothing which integrates design with wearable electronics (eg. safety sensors, lighting) Any information that anyone might have regarding the design of existing clothing on the market and the advantages and disadvantages to garments designed for commuters would be really appreciated.
Thanks

Ok, firstly..thanks for all the advice; especially one about being the dumbest idea you ever heard (sorry, had to mention it!). Well, really, I can give you all the info I have and hope you come up with more solutions although what you have given me already has been really helpful. I previously studied fashion design at the London College of Fashion so firstly am hoping to design a range which is both fashionable and functional; its for commuters in general (pedestrians, people who have to get on the inferno that is the tube but especially cycling because you guys seem to have a more interesting commute than most others!). I wanted to design something that didnt involve naff illuminous yellow reflective strips; hence the possibility of lights (probably LED; some companies make LED lighting badges for cyclists, ambulance and police services already) but there are many reflective fabrics which are in more desirable colours. There are loads of possibilites for this; one company even design horse-riding jackets with left-right indicators on them. The suggestion of the hidden lighting was good; one which I had thought of already; also there is probably some ability to design them to be put in the washing machine as there are many electronic devices which can be washed which are more hi-tech than LEDs. There are plenty of heating systems on the market but would be great to know if heating/cooling systems would be accepted..the small battery has already been designed and conductive fabrics can transfer hot or cold currents to the skin quite quickly. Really I would like an indication of what kind of design features would be most favourable; anthing that you would need..for instance, pockets, hoods, storage etc. Also it would be really helpful to know if cyclists would use transformable clothing, which I realise the dirt and smell factor doesnt fare well with some people, but just interested if people would use it (sorry, in case u didnt know, its clothing that can transform from sports to office clothing with maybe only just having to change a shirt or t-shirt; kind of like the mentioned modular clothing systems). Anyway, hopefully you can give me more info, ideas and opinions..its all been good so far x Cheers

Active lighting integrated into clothing would have to be pretty bright to equal the passive reflective qualities I've seen in some safety clothing. To me, a combination of bright yellow or orange cover for daylight and some serious reflective characteristics for night is pretty effective. I don't know the physics behind day-glow colors but it's amazing how bright they are. And the ability to reflect an amazing percent of light back out makes those night reflective clothes very visible.

So what if those day-glow qualities and those night reflective qualities could be turned on and off to acommodate fashion. My tasteful and subtle clothing could turn day-glow when I hop on a bike, and back to tasteful and subtle when I get off. Similar for night reflective qualities. That might be interesting.

(This is where I make a small entry in my ideas notebook with a suggestion to pursue what kind of resonance or constructive wave reinforcement makes day-glow colors look flourescent. Can it be controlled? etc...)

I think that I'm going to step right out and say that active lighting integrated into clothing just doesn't seem very workable to me. Sensors could be handy, I suppose, but I can't think of anything off the top of my head that I really need to be sensed while I'm on my commute. Hrm. Something that actually could be useful might be heated gloves and socks. I'm fairly certain that such things already exist, but it might be worth considering integrating heated gloves and socks with an outer wind layer, jacket or safety vest. Make the controls easily accessible and that sort of thing. Perhaps find some way to design lightweight, easily rechargeable/replaceable batteries into the system.

To be perfectly honest, I still don't think that I would buy such a system, but that's what I can come up with.

That's the dumbest thing I ever heard.

Well, for a commuter, and perhaps some leisure riders, pockets would be nice. Dedicated pocket for the Mp3 player and/or GSM, pocket for wallet, keys and other minor odds and ends. I've seen jackets with integrated sleeves for headphone cords that come out at the collar; those are neat.
Bright colors and reflective patches are a must for anyone who cycles in traffic. Good seals at neck and wrists are a must on watertight clothes. So is good ventilation - armpit zips and maybe a zipped back.
To me, electronics belong on the bike, not on the biker. Lights should be attached to the bike, not the biker.

Magnus Thor
Iceland

Actively lit clothing already exists. If you do a search you should be able to turn up something.

At any rate, the principle is pretty simple. LEDs, cold cathode lights, and electroluminescent panels can all be used with relatively low power requirements and very little in the way of power conditioning. Basically the size of your battery pack (typically a few AAs) is the limiting factor in miniaturization and integration.

There are lots of downsides, I would think, though. Of the three, only LEDs are actually bright enough to really show up in anything but pitch black and at any kind of distance. Laundering would be a pain. The components would have to detach from the shell. Further, it would be limited to a single piece of clothing.

And the counters to the above: if it's integrated into a vest instead of a jacket or other piece of outerwear, it wouldn't need to be washed often at all. The system could also be modular, so you would purchase the items of clothing and lighting system separately, allowing you to have as many pieces and lighting kits as you felt comfortable with.

On the 3rd and final hand, is it really solving a problem? Isn't this just an expensive alternative to a vest with a vistalite loop and a red blinky?

I'd say something that's reflective witthout having that sparkly reflective look...if that's even possible.

The other is special pockets...I'm always concerned of losing my cellphone/pager/wallet/keys when riding in my shorts, which have very small pockets.

I am a street clothes commuter, only wearing some dri-star shirts (usually polos) when commuting. The better option would be heated socks and sneaker style SPD shoes, if your going for the commuters. That would allow for the feet to dry somewhat, as well as the shoes, since noone like soggy shoes.

i'd rather have a good, secure place to put my wallet and keys than a jacket that lights up.

Thank you, you've been most productive here.

Bostontrevor, I believe that you have summed it up nicely - this is a solution in search of a problem. The heated socks and gloves are just an example of searching too deeply for some useful application (although they would be handy, there's no need for cycling-specific equipment in this case). It's doable, but the need for such a system would be created by marketing. I do like the idea of a modular vest system, and especially having plenty of available pockets.

catatonic, you can't really have something that's reflective without it looking reflective... besides, why would you want to? That yellow vest is so fashionable!

I third that emotion.

BTW what is it with cycling jackets and pockets, they all seem to put pockets on the back where you can't reach. We need quick access to keys/wallet/phone just like anyone else. I wear a short hiking jacket that has pockets in the proper place.
We also need cuffs and fasterners that can be adjusted using one hand and teeth.

Now if you are thinking blue-sky research, then maybe a matix of electroluminescent panels on your back that allow you to send messages to the person behind you. What would your message be?

I rarely buy bike specific clothing. Stupid pockets in the back are useless, especially when they don't even zip closed. Just buy sensible stuff appropriate for the weather.
I use velcro reflective straps to keep whatever pants I'm wearing out of the chainring. I look for jackets with adjustable cuffs to keep cold out or let ventilation in as needed. I wish I could find jackets with more ventilation, like gusseted zipper on the back or under the arms. I like day glo when I can find it, and I just add my own 3M reflective tape, available from any safety supply house.

izgod really has it! I'd add for jackets regular side and chest pockets with zippers ... I always look for a snuggish fit and longer than average (but not so long as to get caught on the seat). Sometimes I do well buying one size smaller than I would for regular clothes and going "tall" in sizing. Gloves that go a little further up the wrist are good. Regular clothes are fine for the most part. I use a brooks saddle so I don't need bike shorts except for long rides (over an hour for me). If I wear bike shorts I usually just put them under regular clothes and plan to change to non-sweaty underwear after the ride.

Good Luck!

For me the perfect commuter clothing would be one that let me go the whole day without having to change out of it or look like cycling specific clothing. The electronics and gadgets in the clothing just creates more problem. More things integrated into the clothing means more things can go wrong.

Northface had a jacket that can be charged and heated, but there are many things good and bad with it. I would like a nice looking pair of pants that dont' have seams where the inseams are so as to not chaif me and some dedicated pocket that's slightly hidden. It would be nice if it had drawstrings of some kind that can either cuff the pants or roll it up quickly and securely.

The important thing is how these clothing are made and constructed. I don't think it's a matter of putting extras on it but making it differently using techniques already used in other industries.

How about this for a commuter jacket. You should design something with flaps that open to reveal reflective strips, so that a commuter could open them before leaving. Then, once he is finished his ride, he can close up the flaps so that the jacket looks like ordinary street clothing. The jacket would also have good ventilation (armpit vents, or perhaps a system that funnels fresh air around to the rider's back) and pockets that can be zipped or snapped shut.

Izgod covered it pretty well. However LEDs on the cuffs so traffic in front and behind can see direction signals in the dark would be useful. LEDs are very directional so would have to be mounted taking into consideration the fact that the arm is usually not extended at right angles to the direction of travel. Since LEDs take such a small current they can be left on all the time, just providing side lighting when not used for turn indication.

i like to wear cycling clothes while commuting....that way I don't sweat up my work clothes, and I don't have to go slowly to worry about sweating and such...

The problem is that it doesnt' seem that cycling clothing is for me. I wear bike shorts, but wear lightweight cotton shorts over top of them to conceal junk. I also don't care for the way that bike jerseys always seem to want to affiliate you with a college, country, company or proclaim you as "Full of beans" or an "Arrogant Bastard" or something like that. I only own 2 jerseys and they're both solid colors. The shirts I usually bike in are from old navy, plain colors and wicking and almost perfect. They have no pockets. I usually carry all of my gear (wallet, keys, phone) in my trunk bag, but some zippered pockets would be nice for some stuff i need to get at...like my cell phone. I can't hear it ring when it's in my bag. If it were in a chest pocket i could stop and answer it.

Anyway, a well ventilated dayglo vest with some zippered pockets and removable sleeves would do me just fine. I'm sure such a vest exists, I just havn't looked too hard yet. Oh, and loops on the back for blinkies would be nice too.

I don't know about active sensors or anything like that... seems the more complicated something is, the more likely to break down.

But on the other hand, some changes could be added to clothing to increase visibility. The whole notion of "reflective piping" is rather useless. Big panels of reflective material would be far more effective.

Constrasting clothing that catches the eyes of others also would be effective. In this latter catagory consider that not all motorists have good color vision. So perhaps something with just bright colors will not work... how about light and dark contrasts so that a cyclist will tend to not blend in with busy backgrounds.

And of course there is the functional aspect... good closing pockets, good venting, and the ability to protect the user from the weather. The garment used to get into work in the cold early morning will probably be the same garment used in the warm late afternoon.

For pants- pockets and lots of em. Also, something great would be snaps or buttons on the inside of the pants, so you can make a cuff, then double it over and button or snap it down so your pant legs don't fall down all day. I walk around with my legs rolled up cause it's easy and it's a sign that you ride to others in the know.

Ventilation with biking in mind is a great idea. Keeping your crotch cool with some kick as ventilation would rock. Oh, and no chamois, or at least make some without a chamois.

I know i can't have reflective clothes without that stupid looking stuff on it...I just feel ridiculous wearing a full outfit of it....I dunno why, but I end up feeling like I'm the old crotchedy fart of a school crossing guard I had to deal with as a kid....maybe because he had the reflective stripe pants, jacket, parka, gloves, boots, etc et etc....it was like he was a giant peice of living reflecctive material with a bad temper and a foul mouth...

....oh, and an early sorry for the possible oncoming thread hijack

I vote for pocketses and no dorky advertising. A variety of colors and reflectivity is the only way to please everybody. (As if that were possible.)

I like using a set of cargo shorts over my cycle shorts, to keep things accessible, but would like to have a more durable seat area in them. I'm always wearing holes in the backside of my shorts way before the rest of the short gives up the ghost.

The only clothes I ever wear for cycling are my regular street clothes - jeans, comfortable shirt, regular shoes, regular jacket. My rain gear consists of a generic goretex parka and rain pants designed for skiing/hiking. I am not interested in, and will probably never wear any clothing designed and produced specifically for bicycling. All my lights and reflective gear are mounted either on my bike, my helmet or my bag, I'm also not interested in looking like a christmas tree or a yellow popsicle when I'm off my bike.

Thinking many years into the future, when I assume most vehicles will have some kind of GPS device, I think it would be cool to have sensors integrated into clothing or equipment that would alert drivers to the proximity of a cyclist to their vehicle.

The whole problem with reflective stuff is that the light source has to be reasonably bright AND coming from nearly the same direction as the viewer's eyes.

Since low-beam headlights aren't supposed to blind anyone coming in the opposite direction, they also don't throw much light on reflectors that are coming in the opposite direction. (in most situations.)

For that reason, I think it would be great to have a sleeveless mesh vest (not hot in the summer) which was actively lit by LEDs at the edges. It would make you look like a floating torso at night, which would give people some depth perception and size perception when seeing you at night.

I have never yet washed my vest, which is made of orange mesh and reflective strips. I'm not sure it would work well. But I would be impressed if somebody came up with a machine-washable, LED-lit vest. Even if it weren't machine washable, I think it would be useful.

But I'll stick with blinkies and a reflectorized vest unless an LED vest is about $30 US, or less.

If the LEDs would blink in a left arrow shape I might think about it....or maybe same bicycle symbol that's on all the "Share the road" signs. If the vest would point like an arrow to the left progressively sort of like a cop's lightbar when they are stopped on the side of the road, cars might give you more room.....

but I think it would be far easier for one of these things to be dorky-looking and expensive than reasonably priced with a low dork factor.