I-wear for health care and wellness--state of the art and future possibilities.

The background of the development of i-wear for health care and wellness are two actual trends: The wellness trend with its expectation to stay fit and healthy and the increasing life expectancy of the Europeans and the challenges, which are resulting thereof for the medicine and the technology that goes with it. Already in 2040 the amount of people over 60 years in Europe will amount to 40% of the entire population [1,2]. In recent years the co-operation of physicians, biologists, physiologists, engineers for electronics and information technologies and textile scientists has produced a multitude of innovative applications for textiles, especially in the medical and wellness field. This presentation will cover the state of the art and some future aspects of textile-integrated solutions for health and wellness services, with intelligent application forms or integrated electronics (i-wear), which are an increasing market for textiles.