Clothing is an integral part of expression, identity and personal expression.  As the adaption of social media and mobile tech becomes more and more widespread, technology is becoming an ingrained part of our daily lives and identities, as well.  It makes sense, then, to integrate clothing and technology with each other.

Seattle based designer Jennifer Darmour, who runs electricfoxy, explores the link between clothing and technology with her innovative garment Ping.  This social networking garment is connected to Facebook, and each of the wearer’s movements is tied to Facebook: “Lift up a hood, tie a bow, zip, button, and simply move, bend and swing to ping your friends naturally and automatically.”

A Facebook application allows message customization, and it also allows the wearer to make up different rhythms to communicate.  And don’t think that Ping is one-way communication — when a Facebook friend sends a comment or message, Ping will tap the wearer on the shoulder.

The Ping garment speaks volumes about the future of fusing clothing and technology together and about the integration of our bodies and clothing to wider networks.  Darmour says that Ping’s built in mechanisms could be further expanded through 3D gesture recognition and/or environmental sensing.  Greater adaption of such clothing would fundamentally change the way we see and interact with the world.

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