Co-design principles and practice: Working with the active ageing

This chapter reports on collaborative, cross-disciplinary research that has begun to address the lack of clear design direction for the development of functional clothing for active agers to promote healthy exercise, autonomy and well-being. Through iterative co-design process, stakeholders have worked together to identify wearable technologies that may be incorporated in a functional clothing layering system for older walkers. The author identifies and collates the smart clothing requirements, within the context of a clothing ‘layering system’, for active agers to engage in healthy outdoor exercise, with a focus on walking. The aim is to provide design direction to inform the range planning and subsequent practical development of near market prototypes. The methodologies developed in the course of this practical research have the potential to help merge the quite different cultures of the clothing and wearable electronics sectors.