It is not the first thing that comes to mind when we get angry at our phone battery, but the subject of energy is weighing on all of society. Our oil supplies are draining, and the debate over nuclear power is continuous. Yet there is one source of energy that is freely available and entirely clean: “In an hour, the sun provides the energy necessary to all of humanity,” said Gert Jan Jongerden, a Dutch expert in renewable energy.
In parallel, the objects that surround us are increasingly power-hungry. Although the capacities of our batteries are improving, our phones always end up dying at 1 AM, right when we need to talk with friends to get solid advice — or get onto the party train. The question here is not how to exploit solar energy — we know how to do so a bit more every day — but how to exploit it while being mobile. Could we wear solar panels?
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Since the mid 2000s, with the progress made in miniaturizing solar panels and making them more flexible, textile projects associated with this technology have flourished. There was a mountain jacket by Maier Sports; a denim one by Bogner/Mustang; a bag collection by the Elle/Portable Light Project, in which Diane von Furstenberg and Tommy Hilfiger took part; and a bikini developed by the artist Andrew Schneider.
Recently, stylistically more ambitious projects have appeared, including Tommy Hilfiger parkas developed with Pvilion, a Brooklyn-based manufacturer of flexible solar panels. The panels, placed on the back of the parkas, resembled something between a giant circuit and Samurai armor, but they allowed one to charge the equivalent of three to four iPhones thanks to a USB cable in the front pocket. Oddly, while the combination of technology and aesthetics was pretty successful, the project seemed to be a “one shot” for the American designer, who has not pushed the collaboration beyond 2014.
The Dutch designer Pauline van Dongen has since taken up the matter of portable solar energy. In close collaboration with research laboratories and technology companies, she explores the progress made in photovoltaic science each fashion season.
“I am fascinated by solar energy and by the idea that we can be a source of energy,” van Dongen said at the video presentation of her first project, consisting of wool and leather dresses equipped with retractable miniature solar panels. The collection was undoubtedly the project that pushed research into portable solar energy the furthest, whereas most previous efforts had just fitted already existing panels onto backpacks, handbags, jackets, or caps.
The latest collection is from 2015. Her solar shirt is a pullover covered with a 120 ultrathin solar strips, created by the Holst Center lab, that allow one to charge a phone in barely a few hours.
In the wake of these initiatives, clothes do not just protect against the elements; they also harness them. The Hilfiger parka, which guards against the cold and the rain while it gathers energy, speaks to this versatility.
One difficulty in projects that articulate fashion and technology trends lies in the balance between these two potentially antagonistic poles. As soon as the scale tilts toward one side, the mixture doesn’t work. Style is obviously a matter of taste, but the clothes invented by Hilfiger and van Dongen show that the path is possible. Still, these projects have not yet flooded the market and still arise in an isolated way. There are economic hurdles, as the cost of materials is high, and there are technological obstacles, as we are still at the stage of attaching dark strips to clothes.
The ratio of surface area to power is one of the major flaws of solar energy, but again, the technology is swiftly evolving. Today, the average efficiency of a solar panel is of about 4 percent. Research projects at Alta Devices and at universities have already managed an efficiency close to 30 percent, sometimes 40 percent. Greater efficiency means that smaller panels, and less charging time, will be necessary. Having a portable, freely available energy source seems within reach.
The real tipping point, the one that will let solar clothing be mass-produced, will be the democratization of photovoltaic fabric, which will allow each thread of clothing to do the job of recharging our batteries. While the technology exists in laboratories, it hasn’t leaped to the textile industry yet. But it will soon. Alta Devices can make solar panels the size of a micron, or 40 times thinner than a human hair. In 2014, the University of Sheffield invented solar cells in spray form, and in early 2016, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology created a transparent film capable of stocking solar energy that could be put on windows or fabric.
A little step for fashion and science, but a big step for our late nights out.
This article was paid for by Copenhagen Fashion Summit and was created independently from VICE’s editorial staff.
