The challenge
Join this contest if you are:
- Independent fashion entrepreneur or product designer looking to bring your idea to life and get manufacturing and commercialization support
- Cosplay and costume enthusiast
- Fashion design student who wants to learn about electronics
- A beginner in exploring the intersection of fashion and tech
- DIY creator of epic music festival outfit that needs blink ✨ and power ☀️
Programmable clothing, computational textiles, wearable integrated apparel, the future of high-tech-enabled fashion is full of new expressions.
In this contest, we want you to submit a wearable garment or outfit prototype concept design that incorporates solar films and/or light-up electronics.
Submit your prototype design in the form of a Hackster project by May 31st, and we're taking you all the way from prototype to product!
What you will win:
5 Semi-Finalists: Determined by the judges and voted by the people - get people to "like" your projects.
- Get your ideas developed for manufacturing. Product development process offered by Art by Physicist and ASCA is valued at $10,000 per semi-finalist (see details and prize categories below).
1-5 Finalists: Determined by the market.
- Get your ideas and product sold as Designer/Brand x Art by Physicist collections.
- Get featured in a 2 Full Page Advertorial in the Fall Issue (V86) of the award-winning Make: Magazine - a winners showcase written by Community Editor, David Groom (co-host of Hangout & Nerdout) + over $28,000 value worth of media and promotional coverage.
By participating this challenge, you will:
- Learn the basic development processes from our amazing judges who are experts in these dazzling creations from their example tutorials below in the resources section.
- Build your own prototype with emerging wearable hardware elements ASCA organic solar films and nLITEn LEDs, as well as digital sketches and/or 3D creation software such as Browzwear VStitcher and CLO.
- Join and become part of a creative technologists community that shares best practices in design, manufacturing, and showcasing. (Check out the MakeFashion runway show)
- Produce a real product with sponsored technology and elements as a semi-finalist winner.
- Promote your portfolio as a creative designer with our special media partner Make: and our extensive global media network in fashion.
Last year in our “Hangout & Nerdout” episodes, we got sneak peeks of what rockstar creative technologist pioneers Kitty Yeung, Anouk Wipprecht, Sophy Wong are working on, and we have many other rockstar designers such as Chelsea Klukas and AmieDD who share the passion for dazzling human-couture interaction possibilities joining this challenge as judges and participants!
Participants of this contest are asked to work with at least one of the two features in their project:
- Solar film integration (how would you seamlessly power your electronics?)
- LEDs integration (programmable, colorful, but also manufacturable)
Feel free to combine them with any interesting components you like!
Note that for this contest's scope, your prototype can use other materials to substitute in order to demonstrate how you would use the end product (ASCA organic solar films and the nLiten LED products). In your Hackster project, you should have drawings, illustrations, and relevant technical explanations such as schematics. Read the full contest rules carefully for judging rubrics. If you are selected as a semi-finalist, you are required to use the technology provided. Read tutorials in the resource section and details below on how to best document a contest submission.
1. ASCA organic solar films
These awesome free-form solar films can be custom designed and integrated to clothing to charge your electronics on the go.
- Option 1: Design your own module shape, fit in a size of the maximum dimension of 150mm*250mm and at least 50mm*50mm. The maximum number of modules = 10.
- Option 2: Choose from existing modules, with fixed dimensions, e.g. leaves or flowers.
Check out Kitty's tutorial on how she used it in her project.
2. nLiten no-code, no-solder LEDs
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nLiten makes no-code, no-solder LEDs that are super beginner friendly. Check out Kitty's tutorial on how she used it in her project.
You can also add your choice of LEDs/fiber optics to incorporate light-up elements into your couture design, such as this beginner-friendly flexible LED panel.
To take a piece of wearable tech idea from prototype to product requires technical design and manufacturing development that works closely with the supplier and manufacturer.
Built on the previous experience, Art by Physicist is committed to work with independent designers who need help in bridging the prototype-to-production gap, so that together we can bring more creative, beautiful, and intelligent creations into the mainstream market.
The semi-finalists will work on their go-to-market strategy with Art by Physicist to simplify and reduce the administrative process involved with manufacturing relationship establishment and communications.
The 5 semi-finalists will work with Art by Physicist to create presentations, and determine the goals, cost of R&D, manufacturing, shipping, and the listed prices of the products during this phase.
Art by Physicist has successfully implemented the "made-to-order" business model from its previous Kickstarter campaigns. The past percentage income is illustrated in the distribution diagram provided below.
This zero-waste "made-to-order" approach is the most sustainable way to approach on-demand manufacturing in fashion - what backers buy is what will be made. In the end, backers get what they paid for, designers get rewarded for actual sales, and suppliers and manufacturers get paid for material and R&D costs. A percentage will be matched to support STEAM & environmental protection non-profits.
"Overproduction of mass-produced goods causes the fashion industry to be one of the biggest pollution sources in the world. I love this focus on making fashion tech 'made to order' to reduce production waste." - Kitty Yeung, Designer of Art by Physicist
Visit the contest page FAQ for more details. Feel free to ask any questions in the Discussion page and our Discord channel.
Prizes
5 winners will be selected from the following categories to win a $10,000 value package of technical and go-to-market consulting and development services on productization and manufacturing and campaign marketing production.
Most Sustainable
1 winner
Eco-friendly, ethical, and designed for the future!
Most Manufacturable
1 winner
Ready for production and destined for success!
Most Creative
1 winner
Pushing the boundaries of wearable tech innovation!
Most Practical
1 winner
Combining style, functionality, and everyday usability!
Most Wanted (People's Choice)
1 winner
The crowd favorite, chosen by the community!
Judges
Dr. Kitty Yeung is a physicist, engineer, textilist, and artist. With over 15 years in STEAM disciplines and a lifelong passion for art and music, Dr. Yeung is constantly pushing the boundaries between art and science to discover how they connect. Having worked across the latest technologies including developing computational textiles, solar powering, 3D printing, micro-controllers, edge computing and wearables, Dr. Yeung combines her love of art with her experience in science to push the bounds of fashion. She received her Ph.D. in Applied Physics at Harvard University and her M.Sci. & B.A. in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge. Dr. Yeung frequently gives technical and career talks reflecting her passion and experience in quantum computing, wearables, digital transformation, fashion technology, and startups. Check out her talk on sustainable fashion with us here.
With a background in Couture, Interaction Design and Electronics - Dutch FashionTech Designer Anouk Wipprecht intersects fashion and technology on topics as such interactive couture, wearable devices and smart textiles. Combined with Robotics, Sensors, Machine Learning and A.I. Her famous Spider Dress is a perfect example of this aesthetic, where sensors and moveable arms on the dress help to create a more defined boundary of personal space while employing a fierce style. Anouk researches and develops how our future wardrobe will look as we continue to embed technology into what we wear.
Chelsea Klukas is the co-founder of the interactive fashion label, Lumen Couture, and the internationally-acclaimed fashion technology organization MakeFashion. Chelsea is known for creating light-up clothing that incorporates embedded LED technology for fashionable glow that transitions day-to-night. Her designs has been featured in numerous fashion shows and events, including the Vancouver Fashion Week, the Wearable Technology Fashion Show at the 2014 CES Conference, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum's "The Art of Video Games" exhibition. With MakeFashion, Chelsea has produced 6 years of runway fashion shows over the world and has produced of over 100 fashion-tech garments. MakeFashion also contributes to introducing young girls to STEM through hands-on education in creating wearable tech fashion.
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Amie DD is based in Seattle, WA with a background in Game Programming and Simulation. She started her career at Marvel Studios as the first female intern inthe video-game department at Marvel ever hired, working on Captain America and X-Men Destiny, she transitioned to Research and Development for development work on the Xbox and Playstation. She is a full-time senior software developer at Microsoft and is active in the maker, LEGO, hacker, and cosplay communities, and continues to obsess over new technologies. She is no stranger to viewing the future, projects, and the world for more than they could be. From her Tesla chip implant hack to being on LEGO Masters, to hacking a government satellite, she continues to push the boundaries of tech and doing something that hasn't been done, even when others didn’t always see her vision. The one thing that makes dreams impossible to achieve is the fear of failure. The adult that still play with LEGO and makes/dresses in costumes. Working on cosplay costumes has helped her become a better programmer, teaching her to finish a project, and always better herself, and never be afraid to be a beginner. Amie started and fully funds a scholarship for girls in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) through the National Videogame Museum located in Frisco, TX.
Resources
Written by Kitty for contest participants as a reference
The amazing wearable-tech tutorial website by Chelsea gives step-by-step guides from foundations to level-up techniques.
And these other inspirational #blinky projects by Anouk & AmieDD for you to get started with #wearablefashion
- Light Up Kitty Ears!
- LEGO Dots Cyberpunk Belt
- Revenge of the Sith Glow PCB Necklace
- Cyberpunk 3D-Printed Fabric Light-Up Corset
Join the contest discord channel here for community support and collaboration!
About us
Art by Physicist is a sustainable fashion brand, dedicated to elevating wearable tech for women. Created by physicist, artist and creative technologist Dr. Kitty Yeung, Art by Physicist’s designs are inspired by the intersection of art, science, technology and fashion. Passionate about reducing fashion’s environmental imprint and industry waste, Art by Physicist works to reduce its environmental footprint through digital printing, open-source technologies and by working with sustainably conscious partners. Made by women for women, the brand is mission-driven to promote the intellectual representation of women in STEAM and support the next generation of female creators.
ASCA designs and develops smart, customized and flexible solar energy solutions with a low carbon footprint on an industrial scale for its international partners. The 60-strong team of experts is spread across sites in France and Germany. ASCA is a subsidiary of ARMOR Holding. ARMOR is a manufacturer specializing in the formulation of inks and in thin film coating. The group is the world leader in the design and manufacture of thermal transfer ribbons for variable data printing for traceability on labels and flexible packaging. ARMOR has a global presence and employs approximately 2,450 people in more than twenty countries.
Launched in June 2012 by a trio of Calgarians, MakeFashion is the world’s largest Fashion Technology community, having developed over 250 wearable tech garments and showcased at over 60 international events. MakeFashion introduces fashion designers and artists to the exciting world of wearables through a series of informative, hands-on, designer-led workshops. The annual gala hosted in Calgary, Canada debuts new collections of innovative fashion technology combined with theatre and performance. MakeFashion has showcased unique projects at fashion and maker events around the world including New York, Rome, and Shenzhen.
Contest Status
Timeline
Contest begins
April 28, 2023, 7:00 AM PDT
Submissions close
May 31, 2023, 7:00 PM PDT
Winners announced by
Jul 14, 2023