What Happens in the LOOMIA Lab?

The LOOMIA Lab was created to help Research and Development teams, as well as innovation engineers, produce next generation products using our patented e-textile technology. In the lab, we aim to fully engage with clients and work with them to develop a functional, integrated prototype that can be scaled or used for management reviews. To put it simply, we become a part of a company’s engineering and design team. What exactly goes on in the LOOMIA Lab, and how can we serve companies who wish to incorporate smart textiles into their systems? Let’s break it down.  

What We Offer 

Through the LOOMIA Lab, we offer a few main services to companies big and small who wish to integrate our technology into their product(s).  

Consulting Services: 

• Use Case and User Experience Development  

To help you determine the best application(s) for your product, and how your customers can use/interact with the embedded LEL technology.  

• Comparative Research and Analysis 

To help you research, identify, and effectively communicate your product’s unique advantage(s) over that of your competitors’.  

• Workshops for Idea Refinement  

To assist and guide you towards a product concept that meets your customer’s wants and needs.  

• Quoting for Business Model 

To provide you with a framework for bringing your product to market.  

• Bi-Weekly Meetings  

To ensure that the LOOMIA Lab team and your design team are on the same page, from inception to completion of your product.  

Documentation: 

• Data Presentation 

An easy-to-digest digital presentation showing key data points regarding the performance of the embedded LEL technology, and the overall performance of your product.  

• Tech Reports 

Comprehensive technological reports that reflect the capabilities and functionality of your product.  

• Prototype Spec Sheet and User Manual 

Spec sheet highlighting the features of your product, how these features are activated, and the projected benefits they provide to the target customer.  

Production and Development: 

• Product and Project Management 

The LOOMIA Lab will help you manage and keep track of all deliverables and tasks throughout the duration of production. This includes, but is not limited to: supply chain management, materials and contractor sourcing, and Gantt Chart creation/management.  

• Cost engineering  

The Lab wants to make sure that you are meeting your goals and product specifications, while remaining on budget. In order to do this, we will make financial estimates and projections for all production-related activities. This may involve an investment appraisal and risk analysis.  

• Prototype development  

We will help you develop a functional prototype of a soft good with embedded LEL technology. Additionally, we will help you establish a client workflow for tandem development and do in-person installations of your prototype for large scale projects.   

• LEL customization and production 

In order to tailor the LEL technology to your product, we test and customize the LEL to specification and select the conductors that best suit your use case. Over the course of your time working with us, we will produce test samples as needed for client-run iterations.  

• Electrical engineering  

Whether it’s PCB design or housing development for PCB integration, the Lab can assist you with electrical engineering. We can conduct price quoting, ordering, and internal testing of PCBs and develop firmware to support your product’s functionality with external technologies.

• Soft goods development  

If you decide you want to integrate your finished product into a soft good, we can help with that as well! Some services we offer for soft goods development are pattern/muslin making, trim and fabric sourcing, iconography design and development (for user interfaces), and production file development for printed textiles, iron on appliques, etc.  

Lab Packages  

The LOOMIA Lab will have four main packages to help you build out your product, each with a different timeline and functionality limit.  Refer to the chart below for details.

Applications  

Our LEL can be tailor-made to a wide range of product specifications. The majority of our work has been done in the following application areas.  

Transportation: 

• Seat and steering wheel heating 

• Dashboard, seat, and headliner user interfaces 

• Ambient lighting 

• Occupancy sensing 

Medical/Wellness: 

• Pressure sensing for measurement  

• User interfaces for ease of use 

• Heating for comfort and therapeutics 

Industrial/Other: 

• Pressure sensing for soft robotics  

• Ingress resistant interfaces for consumer devices  

• Lighting for safety gear 

• Heating for consumer apparel and wearables 

Competitive Edge 

• The LEL can easily integrate into soft goods, whereas FR4 circuits and wired electronic textiles cannot. 

• The LEL has no bend radius limitation, whereas Kapton/polyester flex PCBs and hardwired systems do. 

• The LEL has a low resistance variation, whereas printed electronics on TPU have a high resistance.

• The LEL can be easily insulated, whereas knit e-textiles cannot without ruining their materiality. 

Before You Decide to Work with Us 

Purchase a sample! This is a great way to assess our technology with a low investment to see if it is the right fit for your scope. If our tech meets with your spec, we will write a project proposal for the Lab where you will then build a POC that can be put into production and manufactured with our ISO Certified partner, Eastprint. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions, and we look forward to seeing you in the LOOMIA Lab!