“Technological” jeans designed by Miguel Carvalho, professor at the EEUM
A textile engineer and researcher at the School of Engineering of the University of Minho developed jeans which adapt to movement and increase comfort levels. The project is on Kickstarter with a campaign to raise 30 thousand dollars in order to start market sales in Europe and the United States of America.
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FYT jeans are denim wear which promise to reinvent textile industry, as they intend to eliminate health risks and increase comfort of users. The jeans are a product of Miguel Carvalho’s creation, former student, researcher and professor at the School of Engineering of the University of Minho, and of his partner Elazer Edelman, Director of the Medical Engineering Centre at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Both researchers have now launched a crowdfunding campaign for manufacturing and market these jeans. Anyone can donate, starting from 5 euros. After developing Fyt Jeans technology for the last five years with the physician Elazer Edelman, Miguel Carvalho needs 30 thousand dollars to start selling the product. The funding amount aims at financing jeans production. The promise is a “comfortable and sexy” product, even when we are sitting. And the label: Made in Portugal. The company is based in Cambridge but the production will be made in Portugal. "We have been wearing jeans for more than a century and they can be comfortable and sexy – but only when we are standing up. Our current lifestyle makes us sitting during an average of nine hours a day, either commuting, driving, having a meal or working in a computer. And when we are not sitting, we need to move, bend or crouch. By doing so, most jeans concentrate tension on the bending points, such as hips or knees, which causes bad blood circulation, muscle fatigue and pain. The format and volume of our bodies change with movement, but the clothes we are wearing are not designed to adapt”, Miguel Carvalho explains in a press release. Miguel Carvalho and Elazer Edelman used 3D scanners, thermo-graphic images and thermos-dynamics sensors to measure tension, pressure and temperature in several body positons. From the retrieved information, the researchers developed jeans which reduce compression up to 90% and minimise local concentration of temperature and pressure. Patents for both men’s and women’s models have been registered in Europe and the USA. “Only in Europe, 400 million pieces of this fashion icon are sold every year. Each adult owns and average of five pairs of jeans. there are many opportunities”, Miguel Carvalho affirms. Founders hope they can start free delivery of their product in Europe and USE by the end of 2015. |