Have you ever wondered how our shirts light up? The technology behind our illuminated t-shirts is called “electroluminescence” or EL. These thin panels are the same technology in the dashboard of your car in the speedometer. Don’t get overwhelmed, it’s a lot less scarier than it sounds.
EL devices are lamps, but not in the traditional sense. Incandescent light bulbs found in your ordinary house lamp creates light through heating a filament. EL, on the other hand, uses phosphorescent materials that glow when exposed to a small electrical current. In layman’s terms, when connected to a power source, EL releases energy in the form of photons or visible light.
EL lamps use low power to give off a soft light without any glare. EL is typically used in a film form and is very thin, similar to paper or ribbons, producing a wide range of different colors. EL is commonly used in information displays, automobile panels, and night lights. Take a look on your dashboard the next time you turn your headlights on: that is electroluminescence.
To make our light up shirts, we print a specific image or design onto the EL panel and then attach it to a small battery inverter. The inverter controls the way the panel flashes and the display’s animation. If you use a sound activated battery pack, we can make your shirt light up to sound and music like an equalizer. If you use an automatic flashing battery pack, then your shirt will light up on it’s own in a specific pattern.
It is through our EL panels that we are able to light up your logo and generate wow.
