Abstract: A method for monitoring vital signs of a human or animal subject includes clothing the subject in an elastically deformable shirt or undershirt, removably attaching a carrier carrying a sensor to the shirt or undershirt, adjacent the thoracic and abdominal regions of the subject, sensing elastic deformations of the shirt or undershirt corresponding to one or more of the group of vital signs including respiration, heart function, heart rhythm, generating electrical signals representative of the deformations, and transmitting the signals to a remote receiver for processing.