Location- and time-independent electronic assistance ("Ubiquitous Computing") is one of the most important trends in the 21st century. Visionary electronic engineers as well as textile engineers are convinced that mobile communication and mobile computing will become wearable devices. Solutions for wearable computing are already available, e.g. from Xybernaut. The use of these devices has been restricted to professional users like service technicians in industry or avionics so far. To provide these wearables and smart clothes not only to professionals and technical personnel, the clothes have to be not only functional but also modern, comfortable and washable. In order to achieve this, interdisciplinary research and development is necessary and has already started in numerous projects by companies and institutes worldwide (e.g MIT, Starlab, Klaus Steilmann Institute, Fraunhofer IZM, TITV Greiz, ETH Zurich).
