059 – Dr. Sabine Seymour of Moondial and Softspot – The Seamless Second Skin

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Smart clothing…

Dr. Sabine Seymour (author, professor, public speaker, Founder of Moondial and Creator of Softspot a seamless sensor system for clothing) joins Pavan Bahl (OS Fashion), Rob Sanchez (Ralph and Remington [Episode 22]) and Marc Raco (The Hope Is Project and Monkey Radio) in studio. Seymour reveals how a tailor, a fashion job and a Commodore 64 launched a career and how her company focuses on three ingredients: soft, seamless, and a textile. The FashInvest Investment News story about bankruptcy filing for American Apparel leads to a discussion of the impact of illegal workers and forced retraining of a workforce while having sales orders along with personal actions and financial mismanagement on the company’s fall. Also, Cisco’s announcement of moving to the Internet of Things motivates a conversation on its implications, looking into where to take technology next, the challenges of being able to connect things, the need for infrastructure and standards, and the opportunity to tackle problems.

The value of companies collaborating on creating new ideas and technology, how it leads to creating new opportunities, why Seymour’s business is a hybrid of tech material science, experience design, textile, technology and fashion, how new business models will be created, why wide collaboration is critical, the need to develop new vocabularies and to be more concise when speaking about technologies in fashion, how the patent system is outstripping what’s possible with current system and where changes in patent system should result in a different way to create ownership of ideas.

Seymour reviews the path to now, including a mobile phone computational device for wearable technology, creating a mobile
payment system, and the first displays on garments. A cork pops for Feed the Animals and Rob challenges Seymour with naming the stuffed Ralph and Remington remnant goat prototype by the end of the show.

Discussion on making technology become a part of life without knowing it is there and the need to help to augment living better life by observing and processing data all around us, and a legal point of view and insights into compliance with tougher European laws. How manufacturing maneuvers around changing needs and designs and the challenge to retool current manufacturing processes efficiently so software and new technology can be easily added to a clothing. Also, how significant Virtual and Augmented Realities will be on impacting what we wear.

Off the Grid Questions discover the Commodore 64, dismantling an Austrian tree-house, Star Trek, snowboarding, the future of wearable technology in sports and enhancing our capacity to live better lives. Plus, Seymour’s choice for the name of the goat is revealed.

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