Drexel University in the US has opened a center for functional fabrics. Engineers, designers, and other scholars are developing models and mass-production techniques for smart textiles that emit, transmit, communicate, and actuate using embedded sensors and other digital tools. It's a modern mini-factory with a warp knitting machine, flatbed knitting machines, circular knitting machines, a textile welding machine, a 3-D scanner loom, 3-D printers and laser printers. The aim is to create textiles of the future with tools of the future. The staff includes fashion designers, material scientists, and mechanical and civil engineers. Drexel is also working on a smart fabric belly band, with a configurable antenna and RFID system (like the antitheft tags in stores) that can detect breathing and contractions in patients not under the direct supervision of nursing staff. A handful of doctoral students are based at the center, along with master's candidates and undergraduate interns. The hope is to join electrical and materials engineering students, fashion designers, and biomedical specialists to learn trans-disciplinary teamwork as well as textile and computing design.

Fabric studded with sensors and entire computing systems is a staple of science fiction and tech promotion. But after years of experiments and lab use, there are few such functional fabric products in commercial production.