Apple secures smart fabric patent

Smart clothing has yet to break into the mainstream, but Apple might be able to change that.

As Patently Apple reports, Cupertino on Tuesday was granted an original design patent for a smart fabric. The patent—originally filed in September 2016, with 21 different "inventors" listed—was published on Jan. 1 and doesn't provide much detail.

An attached image "is a front view of a fabric showing the claimed design," it reads. "The dot-dash broken lines surrounding the figure depict the boundaries of the claim and form no part thereof. The figure is illustrated to show contrasting appearance. Areas of the fabric that appear in gray, dark gray and white represent areas with contrasting appearances."

As you can see, it's nothing much to look at. Patents, meanwhile, often never turn into actual products, so don't be expecting an iSweater or smart yoga pants anytime this year. As Patently Apple notes, Apple has long explored smart materials via patent applications, from a blood pressure-measuring glove and smart bedding to Apple Watch bands with pressure, touch, and temperature sensors and a fabric-based remote for the Apple TV.

Other tech giants have taken a stab at smart clothing in recent years, but those efforts—like the $350 smart jacket designed from Google and Levi, which let you swipe for smartphone features—did not take the world by storm.

This article originally appeared on PCMag.com.