Textile maker Formosa Taffeta Co (福懋興業) yesterday said it plans to launch smartwear products that feature temperature control technology by the end of next year at the earliest.
The product, equipped with stretchable electronic inks and films supplied by US-based conglomerate DuPont Co, would be able to connect to mobile devices via Bluetooth, the company said.
Formosa Taffeta said its products would also adopt sensors and controllers supplied by AMPAK Technology Inc (正基科技), a Taiwanese company that focuses on optical communication and wireless multimedia solutions.
Consumers could easily adjust the “smart” clothing’s temperature on their devices, with a 50°C upper limit, the company said.
Formosa Taffeta president Lee Ming-chang (李敏章) said at a launch event in Taipei that the company would be capable of producing 50,000 units of the temperature-controlled apparel each year.
Two apparel brand customers have expressed interest in the new products, which would have a price tag of nearly NT$6,000 per unit, the company said.
Formosa Taffeta did not disclose its capital spending for the research and development of the smartwear, but said the project took about two years to complete.
Formosa Taffeta, a subsidiary of industrial conglomerate Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), posted sales of NT$3.24 billion (US$108.03 million) last month, a 3.99 percent increase from NT$3.12 billion a year earlier.
That brought its cumulative revenue in the first 11 months of the year to NT$37.38 billion, up 1.96 percent from NT$36.67 billion in the same period last year, a company filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange showed.
Specialty fabrics — such as flameproof fabric and anti-static fabric — account for 36.3 percent of the company’s total sales in its industrial material segment, company data showed.
The company’s stock price yesterday dropped 0.98 percent to close at NT$30.4, underperforming the broader market, which decreased 0.44 percent, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
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