Today the US Patent & Trademark Office published an Apple granted patent that relates to smart clothing and accessories that could measure health vitals and even provide another way, beyond Apple Watch, for taking an ECG and may in fact work in concert with Apple Watch to take more accurate ECG readings. You know when Apple engineer Daniel Podhajny is listed as one of the inventors, it's a serious invention. Podhajny is listed on many Nike patents while working on Nike Flyknit breathable material runners.

Apple's invention covers a fabric-based item may be provide with a stretchable band. The stretchable band may be formed from a ring-shaped strip of stretchable fabric having an opening configured to fit around a body part of a user. Circuitry may be coupled to strands of material in the stretchable band. The circuitry may include sensor circuitry for making measurement on the body part such as electrocardiogram measurements, blood pressure measurements, respiration rate measurements, and other measurements.

The fabric-based item may be configured to sustain relatively high temperatures such as those associated with laundering of clothing. For example, the fabric-based item may have supercapacitors for energy storage and other electrical components that can be laundered in hot water and dried in a clothes dryer without damage.

To withstand damage when the fabric-based item is stretched, fabric may include strengthening strands and conductive strands may be provided with meandering paths and more slack than the strengthening strands.

Apple's patent FIG. 1 below is a schematic diagram of an illustrative fabric-based item; FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an illustrative item such as a band that is formed from elastic fabric. 

For finer details, review Apple's granted patent 10,849,557 that was published today by the US Patent and Trademark Office.