"a small, but real, niche" - is it though?
It's been an intriguing notion since the time of the dinosaurs, but what is an actual problem that it solves? I've never seen any textile electronics that delivered more than a novelty.
It's been an intriguing notion since the time of the dinosaurs, but what is an actual problem that it solves? I've never seen any textile electronics that delivered more than a novelty.
Recreating video game characters in real life is a niche. Cosplay. And there's also e-Fashion that is beyond just copying costumes from video games.
You'll still need to hide the battery box somewhere, and likely also the LEDs are inflexible, but by making more of the circuit etextile / flexible, it allows you to hide the electronics in the clothing itself, woven into the clothes and properly integrated.
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An almost fully rigid design with a few flexible parts (ex: the hinge of the Motorola Fold) is also hot and fashionable right now.
Motorola RAZR (the new foldable screen one) needs a hinge, and the electronics that are integrated into the hinge need to be as flexible as the hinge.
Adding little bits of flexibility, especially to space constrained applications like Phones, does add new useful design features above and beyond "novelty" status, IMO anyway.