Stimuli-responsive Chromic Textiles: Mechanisms, Fabrication Strategies, and Emerging Applications

Abstract

Chromic textiles, fabrics that change colour in response to external stimuli, have attracted considerable interest for their potential in smart clothing, sensors, protective gear, and aesthetic design. These stimuli include light (photochromism), temperature (thermochromism), electric field (electrochromism), pH (halochromism), solvents (solvatochromism), mechanical stress (mechanochromism), among others. This review synthesizes recent developments in chromic textiles: the molecular and material mechanisms of chromism, methods for incorporating chromic functionality into textile substrates, evaluation of performance metrics, applications across sectors, current limitations, and future research directions. Recent advances in multifunctional and dual-/multi‐stimuli responsive systems are emphasized. Notably, recent studies have achieved wash durability up to 100 cycles and response times below 1 second, demonstrating significant improvements in performance reliability. Attention is also given to the environmental sustainability and scalability of chromic textile production, critical factors for their commercial and ecological viability. The objective is to provide a thorough resource and to highlight both the promise and the gaps that need addressing for real‐world deployment, particularly the need for standardized testing protocols, long-term durability assessments, and the development of sustainable, scalable chromic systems for next-generation smart textiles.