Staff at the W London's club Wyld will become wearable tech performers this week. The Soho hotel is launching music reactive Wyld Uniforms with integrated LEDs created in collaboration with Glofaster and designed by Claire Barrow.
The jackets, waistcoats and garments feature reactive strip lighting made by Glofaster – the company behind the smart sports jacket that tells a runner to speed up or slow down. The smart clothing for the Wyld experiment pulsates in time to the music played by the club's DJ, reacting in real time to the beats.
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"Wyld's Uniforms work using a state of the art, fibre optic lighting system," Glofaster's Simon Weatherall told Wareable. "They use a hand made, custom built circuitry called 'the gizmo' that is fully integrated with a sound sensor. The technology can be modified and upgraded at any time and has the capabilities to communicate with the wearer via vibrations.
"The Wyld Uniforms use a single LED per fibre optic tube this means they are power efficient, flexible and truly wearable," he added. "The reactive technology means that the lights built into the outfits pulsate to the music played, dynamically reacting to new tracks. A matchbox-sized computer is built into the garments and acts as the heart of the technology."
Being the W, Claire Barrow has also been brought in to make sure everything looks nice and stylish.
The designer, who has shown at London Fashion Week since 2013, created the screen printed W Hotel design for the garments and says that she took inspiration from Wyld's oversized disco ball and London's skyline.
"My designs for Wyld's new uniforms were influenced by the décor of the nightclub," she said. "I wanted the wearer to feel confident and enjoy working in the garments, so we created timeless tailored pieces for men and women. Glofaster and I wanted the uniforms to feature smart capabilities that would accentuate the design, making the staff stand out from the crowd and ultimately support them in their role."
The Uniforms will debut at the club's relaunch tonight at the W Hotel, Soho alongside new interiors. The W is also getting in on keyless hotel rooms - it is part of the Starwood Hotels Group which lets Preferred Guests open their rooms with an Apple Watch app.
The W London's general manager Coen Van Niersen said that the Leicester Square hotel has "always been at the forefront of what's new and next in fashion and technology."
"The hotel's nightclub, Wyld, wanted to offer music lovers a new and immersive way to enjoy the space," he added.
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