Gore brings garment field testing up to date with the help of Finnish IoT company Haltian
Garment field testing has been a process where people act as sensors, writing notes on testing activities, weather conditions and other details including usage of garment, wash cycles and even dryer rounds. However, people have different perceptions of weather, can forget important details and important data can be lost in the process.
W.L. Gore & Associates (Gore), known for waterproof-breathable GORE-TEX product technologies and a rigorous approach to sound science in research & development, has decided to remove all guesswork from field testing of their up and coming garments and textiles by using the internet and other advancements of modern technology. Gore started a collaboration with Finnish IoT Company Haltian, with the goal of creating a new garment testing solution that gives accurate and comparable data of all field tests.
Haltian has created a complete solution that includes a new field test sensor called Thingsee Activity, a complete service of mobile and desktop applications to help meet the needs of Gore´s testing processes. Thingsee Activity is a small button-like sensor that can be attached to clothing to measure various data during the field tests. The device measures and logs temperature, humidity and test person activity for a period of 140 days.
In addition to common activities, the device can also identify wash cycles and dryer cycles. After the field test cycle is complete the data is uploaded to a mobile device and forwarded to Gore field test service for analysis. This gives Gore an accurate data set for analysis and removes human error from the test processes. Additionally, the test personnel are required to do less manual reporting as the data is being automatically captured.
“As a product leadership company, we invest time and energy into the testing of our products, not just in the lab but also in the field. We were looking for a way to collect data during GORE-TEX product field trials to be more objective, accurate and consistent. Haltian became the top choice when they showed that they understood our needs and gave early insights into what concrete solutions could look like. The Thingsee IoT platform was advanced enough that we did not have to start from scratch, yet flexible enough to accommodate all our unique needs. We have been using the finished system extensively in GORE-TEX product and technology development, with great results”, says Nicolas Poirette from Gore.
“Gore is one of the pioneers and best known brands in the world of advanced textiles and membranes and anyone enjoying the outdoors or working with mobile devices R&D knows them. Thingsee Activity provided us an interesting challenge on how to make such a tiny device that provides high quality data and can measure and identify different activities. We are extremely happy to work with Gore to enable even better garments in the future”, adds Pasi Leipälä, CEO of Haltian.
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