Despite having the potential to be more connected than ever before, the quality of the connections we forge online is far from resolute. Social media may keep us in touch with our friends on a superficial level but how is it benefiting our day-to-day interactions?  

Social Textiles is a new series of wearable computing fabrics from MIT Media Lab's Tangible Media Group that allow social messaging to appear on your clothing. Using thermochromic dye, haptic feedback, and human capacitance detection, the textile gives wearers a light “tap on the shoulder” when fellow Social Textilers are within 12-feet. The textiles also have the potential to bypass superficial or generic interests through “filtering” individuals, to tune social experiences towards more compatible ones. If you do end up making physical contact with another wearer, by shaking hands you can gain 'new features' and learn more information about that person.

Essentially the clothes are an ice breaking tool.  By dynamically reflecting wearers' shared interests, Social Textiles gets people to literally wear their online persona.

We've come across a number of items of clothing with interwoven haptics. Navigate is a blazer equipped with a GPS system that can gently nudge the wearer in the right direction without any of the tourist-like embarrassment that comes with gazing into a smartphone.