Latest sports bra that was launched this winter by Textronics Inc, Wilmington, Delaware, USA, is the first of its kind, as it can keep a count of the wearers' heartbeat.

Textronics Inc is a pioneer in the field of textile electronics.

There is a unique conductive fabric in the chest band in the sports bra that, when wet, picks up the heart's electrical pulse and radios it to a digital readout wristwatch via a tiny transmitter in the bra.

Such 'smart fabric' electronics are expected to be hugely popular in the coming years.

There is tremendous scope for such innovations in various fields.

Spyros Photopoulos, an Analyst at Venture Development Corp, a technology market research firm in Natick, Massachusetts, believes that hundreds of foreign and domestic companies are venturing into miniature electronics that people can wear.

Food and Drug Administration has recently approved a shirt made by VivoMetrics of Ventura, California, that monitors the person's heartbeat and respiration.

In the more distant future, the sensors could trigger the battle garb's synthetic polymers, substances that alter their molecular shape when magnetized, heated, shocked or impacted.

The polymers' new forms would stiffen, tighten or pulse the fabric to provide the injured soldier with a splint, tourniquet or offer cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

According to MIT Professor Ned Thomas, the Head of the Nanotechnologies Institute and of MIT's materials science and engineering this extent of technology will be available within 20 years.

As for now, the industrial clients are keen simply for fabrics that respond to temperature changes.

Fibre2fashion.com