Fashion firm claims its clothing can hide you from surveillance cameras

An Italian fashion-tech startup has released a new range of knitwear it claims can hide you from surveillance cameras by tricking A.I. into thinking you are an animal. 

Cap-able describe their Manifesto Collection as a ‘wearable algorithm to protect our identity’.

The garments are priced at £252 for T-shirts, £370 for sweaters and £245 for jogging bottoms.

The company uses a technological system capable of transposing images, called adversarial patches, onto a knitted fabric that can be used to dupe people detectors in real time.

Cap-able describe their Manifesto Collection as a ‘wearable algorithm to protect our identity’

The company uses a technological system capable of transposing images, called adversarial patches, onto a knitted fabric that can be used to dupe people detectors in real time 

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Wearing one of the items with the adversarial image woven in can protect the biometric data of a person’s face. It means that it will either be undetectable, or associated with an incorrect category such as animals, including dogs, zebras, or giraffes.

Cap-able said the goal of the Manifesto Collection is to raise awareness of the right to privacy and the protection of biometric data, which they believe is an issue often underrepresented, despite affecting the majority of citizens around the world.

Cap-able CEO Rachele Didero said: ‘Choosing what to wear is the first act of communication we perform, every day. A choice that can be the vehicle of our values.

‘In a world where data is the new oil, Cap-able addresses the issue of privacy, opening the discussion on the importance of protecting against the misuse of biometric recognition cameras: a problem that has become increasingly present in our daily life, involving citizens from all over the world and which, if neglected, could freeze the rights of the individual including freedom of expression, association and free movement in public spaces.’

The garments have been released on sale at £252 for a T-shirt, with sweaters at £370 and jogging bottoms available for £245

Wearing an one of the items with the adversarial image woven in can protect the biometric data of a person’s face, that either will not be detectable, or will be associated with an incorrect category such as animals

Until now, the adversarial patches have only been printed. 

The method that Cap-able has patented allows the company to incorporate the algorithm into the texture so that the clothes fit well and are effective. 

Cap-able claim the fabric has been tested with YOLO, the most common and fastest real-time object detection system.

Federica Busani, co-founder, said: ‘Cap-able aims at changing the way people look at the clothes and accessories they wear by bringing a completely new and deeper attitude to the fashion industry.

‘Cap-able wants to find new solutions and new fields of application of the technology, to make people reflect on an urgent problem too often underestimated.’