At work, on holiday or simply commuting from one place to another, electronic gadgets are with us almost everywhere we go. As they become as common and popular as clothing items, it is only logical that these two should be integrated to make life simpler and more convenient.

Today's customers demand added value from products. Apparels need to be more than apparels and accessories need to be more than accessories. For the textile industry, the key to a winning product is innovation, and one of the means to innovation is integration. The ability to integrate electronics into textile products is a company's entrance ticket into a new emerging market. By combining stylish designs and advanced technologies, a company will be in a favourable position to attract customers, strengthen its brand and ultimately stay ahead of its competitors.

Using wearable technologies, Simpak has developed successful products which enable users to control portable music players directly from their backpacks. And this is only the beginning. One of our future focuses, for example, is smart fabrics and interactive textiles (SFIT). By weaving in new conductive materials, fabrics are turned into sensors and electrical conduits. Applications of SFIT are being tested in military, health and emergency services markets. Now it's time to make them relevant for the consumer market - clothes and accessories with built-in mobile phone controllers; or perhaps sportswear with embedded bio-monitoring function to help improve performance. The potential is immense. The possibilities are endless.