In the midst of moving in, meeting new roommates and exploring campus this year, Drexel freshmen found a new way to connect with one another as they began their college experience: socializing via backpack.

More than 3,000 individualized backpacks were distributed to Drexel’s incoming freshmen during the fall as part of the University’s move-in week festivities. In addition to the standard cargo, each bag contains a unique code woven into its fabric. The unassuming plaid design on the backpacks is actually a fabric-based coding system that links up with an app to relay a customized bit of information to anyone who scans it.

“Through this bag, you can link anything from social media to a favorite song,” says Genevieve Dion, director of the Center for Functional Fabrics at Drexel.

Dion is helping to develop technology like the backpack as part of the center’s partnership in the Advanced Functional Fabrics of America, a research institute driven by academic-corporate collaborations and supported by the U.S. Department of Defense with the goal of making the United States a leader in technologically advanced fabrics.