Interactive polymeric optical fibre (POF) textile for footwear design

Abstract

Interactive Polymeric Optical Fibre (POF) textiles are illuminative and can be customized according to the needs of the consumers. They possess a high potential for the wearable technology market. As evidenced by Tan's (2013) research, POF textiles had been successfully applied onto fashion garments and interior furnishings. These innovative POF products have a simple construction and they are used for interior decoration and fashion presentation. In order to show the high potential of the POF product, POF textile should be able to adapt small and complicated structure. The POF product should be used for real-life situation. There is an existing gap in current research which explores the construction techniques, design framework and practical value of POF textile. In this thesis, the small and complicated structure of footwear is selected as the form of POF product. The thesis aims to investigate the design framework and construction process for interactive shoe design using POF textiles. A social issue of elderly's domestic fall will be addressed as a design inspiration showing the practical value of POF textile. The combination of traditional construction techniques, design inspiration and the fundamental fragile characteristics of the POFs limit the exploration of organic forms and structures pertinent to shoe design. The research will study the researchers' creative process and design experiments to explore potential innovative design and construction techniques for dynamic shoe design.