California Apparel News

Eleksen, a British company whose headquarters are at Pinewood Studios, where most of the James Bond films were made, is planning to bring some Bond-like gadgetry of its own to the apparel market with a goal of making clothing more functional for today’s tech-driven lifestyles.

The company has developed a fabric technology that incorporates an electronic keypad that can control PDAs, laptops and other devices. Called ElekTex, the technology has already attracted companies such as Los Angeles–based Kenpo, O’Neill and Spyder, which are using it to make garments that feature iPods and cellular phones.

The keypad is built into multiple layers of materials and has scroll volume and power switches that can be adjusted by touching spots on the fabric. When these devices are used in apparel, wearers control them by touching marked areas on the sleeve, etc. There’s a connection for a 3.5-mm microphone, which is the standard for most electronic devices. The fabric is washable and has been tested to withstand keystrokes repeated into the millions, said company representatives.

Apparel makers including Kenpo and skiwear specialist Spyder have developed high-tech jackets that use ElekTex. The iPod Kenpo Jacket for iPod debuted over Christmas. Other apparel makers have developed clothing and products that integrate devices like the iPod into clothing. Spyder’s $2,000- plus ski suit comes with a 60-gigabyte iPod Photo, which is built into the suit and engineered with a passive locking control system, which shuts down the control panel to prevent setting changes from active movement or inadvertent contact. The suit is waterproof and features a silver fiber technology to provide anti-odor, anti-static and heat-conductive properties.

Eleksen executives hope to whet the market’s appetite with such products and make wearable technology a more viable option for apparel manufacturers. And the company is launching an ambitious campaign to do so. It has an office near Boston and is exploring opening one in Los Angeles, said Chief Executive Robin Shephard during a recent visit to the West Coast. The company will show its wares at the Feb. 21–24 run of MAGIC Marketplace in Las Vegas. It’s also showing at the 2006 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas Jan. 5–8 and at Mac-World Conference & Expo in San Francisco Jan. 9–13.

“Our overall strategy is, in the short term, to build ’products’ with our technology, create market pull, then work with the OEM/ODM market to help them design and build into their products our technology,” Shephard said. “This strategy, in the short term, plays out by Eleksen partnering with ambitious, market-leading organizations that are willing to invest what it takes to create a new market.”

The company has set up its sales on a quantitative level, selling the pads as is or through a licensing program, Shephard said.

“This means that we will supply design input, a manufacturing pack, our technology [and] charge a one-off license fee for the intellectual property and then share in the success of the eventual product by agreeing to a small royalty on shipments,” he said.

Until now, wearable technology has largely been the domain of tech geeks, but Shephard sees that changing.

“It will become more mainstream. Our world is now full of a whole plethora of consumer electronic devices,” he said. “Over the past few years, with the development of wireless technologies and the advancement of digital services, these devices have become more and more portable. Until the iPod, not a lot of attention was given to usability and how these devices actually played into our lifestyles. This is now changing.”

It’s not just iPod users who stand to benefit. Shephard said that technology including MP3 players, satellite and digital radio, GPS (Global Positioning System) and RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) are also options.

Eleksen is also marketing a fabric- based computer keyboard that can be linked to a Bluetooth wireless device to control PDAs, laptops and more. The pad can be rolled up or stored flat. For more information visit eleksen.com.