Matt Selnick THUMB

Matt Selnick

Design

Industrial Design

Whenever we brainstorm new opportunities for our clients, we make a point of asking ourselves whether the performance of a particular device might be enhanced by incorporating softer materials and construction.
As design materials, soft goods are versatile, functional, comfortable, aesthetically pleasing, and sometimes, more sustainable than alternative materials. New fiber qualities, coatings, and construction methods give soft goods a broad range of properties and abilities that designers can leverage to deliver improved performance and comfort.

Read our entire content series on how to develop the best version of a product that incorporates softer materials.

Thanks to advances in materials science and manufacturing techniques, soft goods can also be some of the toughest and most resilient products around. For example, modern performance fabrics are designed to withstand extreme weather conditions and heavy wear and tear, while leather goods are known for their toughness and resilience.

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<h2>What Are “Soft Goods” in Product Design? </h2>
“Soft goods” is an industry term we use to refer to the parts of a product that are constructed from conformable materials such as textiles, foams, and rubbers. 
You can find soft goods in products you see and use every day: 
<ul><li>Your backpack, clothing, and athletic footwear </li><li>Smartwatches, VR headsets, and other consumer electronics </li><li>Medical devices, garments, and surgical implants. </li></ul>
One of our favorite examples of a product innovation that could not have been realized without soft goods is the award-winning <a href="https://www.delve.com/work/not-impossible-labs" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Not Impossible Haptic Vest</a>.

Not Impossible

A whirlwind product development journey led to a thrilling launch for an IoT "surround-body" wearable that uses haptics to create an immersive experience.

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The Not Impossible vest is a "surround-body" wearable that uses haptics to allow people who are deaf or hard of hearing to experience music. It consists of: 
<ul><li>Several soft components: a vest, two wrist bands, and two ankle bands. </li><li>A series of actuators that distribute a vibrational translation of the music all over the body that can be linked to different instruments and sounds. </li></ul>
In the case of the Not Impossible Vest, we knew that soft construction would be essential for delivering an experience for hard of hearing users that would, like music, literally surround the body. 
The soft construction of the vest, wrist bands, and ankle bands allowed us to map the actuators across the tops of the user’s shoulders, down the spine, on the lower back, around the rib cage, to the wrists, and to the ankles. Because the soft materials can fit closely to the wearer’s body, when the actuators translate music into tactile vibrations, the result is a one-of-a-kind immersive and intuitive experience. 
(Read more about our work on the Not Impossible Vest <a href="https://www.delve.com/work/not-impossible-labs" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">here</a>.) <h2>Are Soft Goods Right for Your Product?</h2>
First ask the following questions.&nbsp;<h4> Early Design Considerations&nbsp;</h4><ul><li>What properties does the product need?&nbsp;</li><li>What requirements might be directly impacted or are driven by soft goods in the product?&nbsp;</li><li> How do competitors and relevant experts approach sizing for users in this market?&nbsp;</li></ul><h4>Anatomy Considerations</h4><ul><li>Who are the intended users, and how much variance is there across them?&nbsp;</li><li>Does the product need to conform to the movements of the users? Are you supporting the correct ergonomics and muscle movements?&nbsp;</li><li>Is the product comfortable? How have you defined comfort so that you can achieve it?&nbsp;</li></ul>
With the answers to these questions in hand, read on for scenarios in which incorporating soft goods would improve the design of your product.&nbsp;

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<h2>When to Use Soft Goods in Product Design </h2>
<ul><li>Your product requires flexibility to function. Some design solutions require compression, flexibility in movement, detachability for comfort during extended wear. Examples: Prosthetics, headsets, <a href="https://www.safeguardarmor.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">body armor,</a> and, of course, the <a href="https://www.delve.com/work/not-impossible-labs" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Not Impossible Haptic Vest.</a> </li><li>Your product needs to fit a wide range of users. A human-centered design approach requires considering the variation in sizes and shapes across individual users. Soft goods can often be used to best adapt and conform a design to fit a wide range of users, especially when working very strictly around anatomy. Examples: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/the-best-fitness-trackers/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Fitness trackers</a>, <a href="https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-smartwatches" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">smartwatches</a>, backpacks, and <a href="https://www.media.mit.edu/articles/sensors-woven-into-a-shirt-can-monitor-vital-signs/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">smart clothing that monitors vital signs</a>. </li><li>Your product requires unique properties that would be challenging to create in rigid materials. Examples: <a href="https://newatlas.com/materials/washable-conductive-clothing-muscle-activity/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">smart compression clothing that tracks muscle activity,</a> and soft robotics designed for tasks that require delicate handling, such as medical procedures or warehouse picking. </li><li>You want to create more with less. Great products can stand out from competitors by using only as much material as required. If you are struggling to simplify a product, changing the material may open the door to achieving a simple, elegant solution. Example: <a href="https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-gear/snow-sports-gear/soft-shell-helmets-are-coming-will-consumers-buy-them/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Soft-shell helmets</a>. Traditional hard-shell bike helmets can be bulky and uncomfortable, while soft-shell helmets made of foam or other materials provide similar protection while using less material. </li><li>You want to enhance the surface feel or visual branding of your product. A good example of this is Google’s <a href="https://store.google.com/category/connected_home?hl=en-US&pli=" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nest</a> (formerly called Home) – where a soft, colorful mesh is applied to blend into the home environment and create a more inviting device experience. Compare this to the design of common radios, soundbars and alarm clocks, and you’ll start to see the impact that utilizing soft goods can have on your design. </li><li>You want to use alternative materials to create a unique story for your brand or product. Example: Flexible packaging, such as pouches and bags, that are used for everything from food and beverages to electronics and pharmaceuticals, stand out from the competition when made from innovative materials such as <a href="https://www.accredopackaging.com/products/compostable/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">biodegradable plastics</a> and <a href="https://www.nefab.com/en/news-insights/2022/why-fiber-based-packaging-is-a-solution-for-sustainable-supply-chains/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">sustainable fibers.</a> </li></ul>
<h2>Limitations to Keep in Mind </h2>
The properties of soft goods offer many advantages but come with limitations as well. Here are some scenarios in which certain soft materials may not enhance your product design. 
<ul><li>Your product idea has performance or structural properties that would be too difficult to achieve in a woven fabric. The recently launched <a href="https://academiafurniture.com/products/squircle-active-seating-stool" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Squircle Active Seating Stool</a> is an example of this. Designed for use in an elementary school environment, the stool's unique shape gives it a playful and interactive quality and its soft surface makes it comfortable and safe for children to handle. While this could have been accomplished with textiles, using a co-moldable elastomer was both cost-effective and better suited for frequent sanitizing in a post-pandemic classroom. </li><li>Cleanability is a priority for your product. With soft goods, the nooks and crannies from the weave, folds, or gaps at seams can hold on to dirt and be difficult to wipe down. Hospital beds are designed with this important consideration in mind, which is why they are often constructed from hard plastic, with softness for comfort added separately through washable bedlinens. Designing the hospital bed itself to be soft could be considered but is less practical for cleanability. </li><li>Seams and seals are critical for your product. Depending on a product’s application, it may need to survive outdoor weather conditions, be sanitized with harsh cleansers, or cover and enclose precious technology. Fabrics, foams, and many non-wovens are typically produced in flat sheets, cut to shape, and the edges stitched, glued, or welded – which may limit how tightly you can attach them to other parts of your product, or how securely these seams can be sealed. It’s not impossible to achieve seals with soft goods, but it may not be a practical solution. </li></ul>
<h2>Can Soft Goods Help You Achieve Your Sustainability Goals? </h2>
While plastic receives the most notoriety as a global contributor to landfill waste, textiles are not innocent. Clothing, footwear, and other soft goods like cushions and backpacks are often comprised of many layers of material, often with adhesives and plastic coatings holding them together. 
Many of these products: 
<ul><li>Require significant transportation and resource expenditure to create </li><li>Generate large amounts of harmful waste (microplastics) </li><li>Are impossible to recycle once assembled. </li></ul>
Furthermore, when a soft goods product includes electronics, this introduces an extra layer of complexity for achieving a <a href="https://www.delve.com/insights/organizational-transformation-that-supports-sustainable-design" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">sustainable design.</a> Products must be viewed holistically when we make affordances for repairability and maintainability. These can be difficult to achieve when electronics are involved. Fortunately, multiple approaches are being taken to improve sustainability, including the use of recycled materials, diverted textile production waste and the development of innovative manufacturing technologies that aim for closed-loop production, or that reduce energy consumption and emissions. 
We’re encouraged by the growing focus on product longevity, repairability, and end-of-life disposal. Strategies that extend the lifespan of products and enable circularity in supply chains (for example, deconstruction and reuse of materials) are likely to have the greatest impact for sustainability. Next: We explore <a href="https://www.delve.com/insights/how-to-use-low-and-mid-fidelity-prototyping-for-soft-goods" target="_blank">prototyping in soft goods product design.</a>

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