Light-up Shirts: Revolutionary Technology set to transform the garment printing industry

Electro-Wear: Unique Light Up sound sensitivesimply a substance that glows when excited by
Shirtselectricity. An electrode is a material that emits or
Light up shirt, luminous shirts are all based on thereceives electricity, for example glass or metal.
same technology. Simply imagine a neat NeonTwo fine wires lead from the electrodes to the
Sign, like those in Las Vegas, reduced, flattenedsource of power and an AC current is required.
out and patched directly on almost any garment.The device remains cool while lighting up and this
A regular Tee is now turned into a wearableis a defining characteristic of a luminescent light
Luminous Animation. source. Electroluminescent light sources provide
Call it light up shirt, luminous shirts,bright uniform light over a large area and are
glow-in-the-dark tees, electro shirt, EL shirts,extremely thin. For this reason electroluminescent
Animated Shirts they’re all based on thelamps have many practical applications.
same technology: Electroluminescence. But whatElectroluminescent lamps may be found in clock
the fuss about them and why do they have theand instrument dials, in safety lighting and bill board
potential to change forever the way you wear adisplays. However, an electroluminescent light
tee? Here’s a simple description of theirsource in its simplest form is not readily adaptable
use and technology written by Jean R. Desvernayto more creative applications.
from Electro-Wear Ltd ( and Robert Doornick 
from Allura Intelligent Product().Early Developments in Electroluminescent Lighting.
  
Light up Shirt: What’s the fuss?In the 1970s the basic electroluminescent lamp
 was modified and a wide range of applications for
Who today doesn’t have in its cupboard aelectroluminescent lighting became apparent. The
dozen of lousy tees with a company namemost significant modification being that the
printed on it?phosphorous material is no longer sandwiched
From College, Mom and Pop shop to top 500between two electrodes. (2) Rather the two
company, advert tees have became such a normelectrodes, separated by an insulating film of
that it has almost became an obligation for anypolyester, form an electrical grid on top of which
company to give away tees with their brandthe phosphorous material may be
printed on it to their customers.‘painted’. The grid-like nature of the
However, because it has became a decades oldelectrode continues to allow the electric field to
norm in a media saturated age, printed garmentpenetrate the phosphorous layer. This form of
are losing their advertising power.electroluminescent lighting has been used to
Electro-Wear, a company based in New York withliterally paint electroluminescent artworks.
manufacturing facilities in China has found a radical 
new way to give a tremendous boost to printedFurther Developments in Electroluminescent
ads on garments with electro-luminescentLighting.
technology, distributing its light up shirts also called 
EL shirts to a wide range of industries.Further modifications to the basic
 electroluminescent lamp bring us to the
Simply imagine a neat Neon Sign, like those in Laselectroluminescent panel found on ‘light
Vegas, reduced, flattened out and patchedup’ t-shirts. Like the electroluminescent
directly on almost any garment. A regular Tee islamp developed in the 1970s today’s
now turned into a wearable Luminous Animation.electroluminescent panels consist of an electrical
Not only that but it comes with mind blowinggrid on top of which a phosphorous layer is
features, such as being sound sensitive with aprinted in the desired design. A thin pliable and
logo on the front shirt lighting up with the soundtransparent sheet of material is placed on top of
of your voice or with the beat of music.the phosphorous layer. Areas of the membrane
 are opaque while others are transparent in
Because of those luminous features those Lightaccordance with the printed design of the
up Shirts are showing that they can increase byphosphorous layer. A transparent protective
the 1000’ fold the viewer and passer bycoating is applied as the final layer. Using different
attention, making them an ideal way to advertisephosphorous materials creates different colors
a brand.while alternating and dividing the power supply
Big corporation are now increasingly turning theirbetween different areas on the electrical grid
attention to this very promising advertisingcreates designs that light in sequence. Finally an
medium.inverter is used to allow the electroluminescent
Warner Bross is the latest in a row to startpanel to be run by a small battery pack.
advertising their product on Light up Shirts, among 
dozens of others brands varying from FM RadioElectroluminescent Panels and Light up T-shirts.
station to Hokey Team. 
That’s what Light up Shirt are all about,A light-up t-shirt is created by applying an
and this technology is about to give a pretty bigelectroluminescent panel to an ordinary t-shirt. In a
revival to the traditional garment printing industry.well made light-up t-shirt the electroluminescent
 panel will be stitched to a Velcro backing. A Velcro
 patch sewn to the t-shirt allows the panel to be
How does it work?attached and removed at ease. A slit in the t-shirt
 itself and Velcro patch allows wiring from the
Light up shirt, luminous shirts, glow-in-the-darkpanel, in the form of a thin plastic cable, to be
tees, electro shirt, EL shirts, Animated Shirts arethreaded inside the t-shirt. Wiring then runs to a
an ordinary t-shirt enhanced with a graphicbattery pack concealed inside and at the base of
illuminating electroluminescent panel. Whilethe t-shirt. 
glow-in-the-dark apparel and apparel utilizing LEDThe Future of Light up Apparel
displays have long been popular novelty items, 
light-up t-shirts with electroluminescent displaysElectroluminescent panels today are a highly
are a fairly recent phenomenon. The uniqueversatile light source. Electroluminescent panels
characteristics of electroluminescent light-upmay be created in an infinite number of designs
technology make light-up t-shirts a versatile andand in a range of colors (see for more
unique alternative to traditional light-up methods.information). Flashing sequences may be
This article aims to discuss the science behind anmanipulated to animate the design and in recent
electroluminescent display and maps thedevelopments may even combine a sound
development of electroluminescent displays fromactivation device to create sound responsive
their most basic form to use in today’sanimations. Electroluminescent panels are
‘light-up’ t-shirts. The process ofincreasingly popular in the advertising industry for
creating a completed ‘light-up’ t-shirt willtheir versatility. The light-weight and flexible design
also be discussed.of an electroluminescent panel allows it to be
 applied to a variety of other mediums, besides
An Electroluminescent Light Source.t-shirts. ‘Light-up’ caps and
 ‘light-up’ wrist wrap or independent light
In its most simple form an electroluminescent lightup panels are increasingly popular forms of
source consist of a phosphorous material‘light-up’ apparel and work in much the
sandwiched between two electrodes, one ofsame way as the electroluminescent t-shirt
which is transparent. A phosphorous material isdescribed above.