Protection, comfort and aesthetics used to be the features associated with textiles for clothing. The fast changing demands of nowadays’ technology aware customers led to the emergence of a new feature, which is the smartness of the textiles. This newsletter presents the revolutionary concept of ‘smart textiles’, along with their functions, smart materials and advanced manufacturing technologies. The focus is put on the evolution of smart textiles through a market overview, its drivers and barriers, the major academic and industrial players and the future trends. The latest applications of smart textiles in the clothing, sport/fitness, medical, safety and energy fields are reported to highlight the state-of-the-art of wearable functional clothing.