Controllable movement within a textile or garment has been more aspiration than reality in past years. However, a team at MIT have developed simple shape changing films that is certainly a step along the way.
Using differential expansion of metals and resistive heating they have been able to create a multitude of shapes that unfurl under electronic control. You could immediately imagine pores in a sports textile expanding and contracting depending on the need for cooling of the wearer.
The following video shows many examples and the relatively simple process for creating the films.
An simple example of the technology unfurling
It will be interesting to see what level of load the material can take, the power required for the change of state and the time constant for furling and unfurling. However, even in its current early state it would be great fun to experiment with.
Source: Creative applications network