Dr. Gottfried Betz, Strick Zella

„There is a great future for wearables. Textiles bend and breathe with the wearer and can be made up into many different garments. And if they have smart aspects, many new applications are opened up that were previously untapped by mere electronics in the traditional sense. But operability is often a problem and laundering rarely possible. For these reasons, we have developed a smart type of textile that is robust, washable and intuitive in use. A great variety of know-how in combination was necessary: cloth-making, electronics, radio engineering, software and design. Our company and others which are smaller could not have done this alone.

With the expertise of IMMS on board, we were able to launch an innovative combined solution which has meanwhile been registered for patent under the name of Knitty-Fi. It contains switches knitted in electrically conducted thread, electronic signal processing, a power supply and wireless communication. The switches will control devices such as machines that are up to 30 metres away.

IMMS did not only design, develop and integrate the electronics constantly taking account of additional specifications: more than that, IMMS initiated the idea of simply using a smart phone to configure the system, which is a persuasive selling point for potential customers. We have had our first enquiries, from the furniture industry, for instance. The next stage will be to proceed towards mass production. Here, again, we shall continue to build on the sound knowledge of IMMS and its holistic, highly-committed approach.“