Despina Papadopoulos, designer and founder of Studio 5050, comments: ‘We’re working on our first prototype – a badge, if you will – to connect to the online, social persona and to respond to connections with others.’

The device will be completed by August, says Papadopoulos, at which point the technology could be launched as a standalone product or licensed to a third party.

‘That will depend on a few different revenue models,’ Papadopoulos adds.

Online persona

The LED badge is another means of adding to the mainstream appeal of smart textiles, an issue a number of fashion designers are currently addressing. By bringing data from social networking sites – which include Facebook, MySpace and Bebo – onto clothing, the fashion industry could tap into the current trend of people expressing themselves online.

Papadopoulos says: ‘Their social networking persona will be able to leap out from the screen into the real world.’

Another selling point of the technology is the changeable nature of clothing that includes a display, allowing fashion items to carry a number of images or messages in its lifetime, rather than just one.

Accessory

The details of how social networking data will be expressed using the LED badge has yet to be confirmed, and Studio 5050 is still working on the technical challenges of creating a wearable LED display.

Papadopoulos notes: ‘We’re developing the module as an accessory at first, not integrated in the full sense. That will have to wait.’

As well as creating an LED display badge, Studio 5050 is also working on a set of easy-to-integrate e-textile modules for developers that will be ready later in 2010. +Plastic Electronics recently reported on plans for the integration kit, which will make it easier to add devices including lights, sensors and batteries to an item of clothing.