Wearable Technology: How Fashion, Luxury and Activewear Brands Monetize Innovations

Wearable Technology

Marketing ResearchJuly, 2015

How Fashion, Luxury and Activewear Brands Monetize Innovations

Wearable Technology Industry

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1. Wearable Technology Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

1.1. What is Wearable Technology? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

1.2. Evolution of Wearables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

1.3. Market Insights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

1.4. Key Players In The Market . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

1.5. Crucial Link: Wearable Devices & Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

1.6. The Future Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

2. When Fashion and Luxury Meet Wearable Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

2.1. Fashion, Luxury and Wearable Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

2.2. Case-Study: Smartwatches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

2.3. Case-Study: Wristbands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

2.4. Case-Study: Jewelry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

2.5. Case-Study: Eyewear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

2.6. Case-Study: Apparel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

2.7. Case-Study: Footwear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

2.8. Case-Study: Handbags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

3. What Is Next? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Index


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WEARABLE TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY


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Evolution of Wearables

The first smart wearable came into existence during the mid

60’s, but working with wearables was meant applying it to a

small scale activity in the market, at that time. The technology

was admirable but not consumer-friendly. The wearables

were mono-functional in a closed environment - wired, not

upgradable, and the data was stored physically in their own

hard drives.

Past

Present

Wearable computer for cheating at roullette

Keith taft: Wearable Computer for cheating on blackjack

First calculator wristwatch

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

2015

Computer Backpack, invented by Steve Mann to control photographic equipment

Digital hearing aids, the first digital hearing aids were released to the public

Steve Mann created the first wearable wireless webcam

First bluetooth headset was shipped

C-seriesFirst fully digital pacemaker

Fitbit launched wireless-enabled activity trackers

Nike + Ipod (Sports kit)

Fashionable bluetooth enabled earrings

Google Glass

Apple iwatch

The present wearables era started in the year 2000. Consumer-

friendly devices today are not only well-suited to the body,

are multi-tasking and fully digital, but also have upgradable

softwares. Use of sensors and the data now accessible from

anywhere through cloud base, is a major add-ons. Becoming

more personal day by day, the devices are pursuing a trend to

be more autonomous.


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Key Players In The Market

In addition to the technology giants of

the era such as Apple, Google and Intel,

Nike shows itself as the leader amongst

sportswear brands. FitBit and Misfit are

making the major contribution as the

important collaborative brands.

Major Market Brands Co Branded - Fashion Brands New Brands

Fashion and luxury brands entered

into the industry by co-branding with

technology companies. Swarovski-

Misfit, Luxottica-Intel, Tag Heuer-

Google are amongst a few, creating

fashionable and luxurious wearables.

Upcoming concerns and needs of

tech-savvy customers enable start-

ups to keep pace with the market.

From earrings and purses to coats and

shoes, the demand for niche smart

devices is only growing.


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The Future Family


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WHEN LUXURY AND FASHION MEET WEARABLE TECHNOLOGY


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The seek of innovation together with the strong projected growth in the wearables industry has pushed many companies beyond

consumer electronics to jump into the market. Amongst those, fashion and luxury brands’ are making efforts towards changing the big

misconception in the market that wearables are not fashionable enough.

Big brands such as Ralph Lauren, Michael Kors and Tory Burch, as well as fashion designers like Amy Winters and Rebecca Minkoff,

have already launched products that can monitor daily heart beats, charge one’s phone or change colour according to the environmental

changes whilst maintaining the aesthetics.

Wearable solar panels, heart tracker jewellery, sound reactor helmets, phone charger accessories and many others seem to take more

aesthetic shapes and designs so that haute tech can be as fashionable as its functionality.

Fashion, Luxury and Wearable Technology


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Shine, the fitness tracker, is powered by a solar cell as long as it is exposed to the sun or indoor LED and halogen lights.

The tracker composes of a varicoloured aluminium disc which can be worn as a wristband, a pendant or a lapel pin that can also be hung on to the other garments. The brand is also offering three different versions of the product with different prices.

Shine is a passive wearable which is used with health-tracking apps provided by Misfit and others. Users can synchronize the data by simply placing the disc onto smartphone’s touch screen. Double tapping onto Shine, user can also enable the clock feature which again works in synchronization with user’s mobile device.

The jewellery is compatible with iPhone 4S, 5, 5C, 5S, 6, 6+, iPod Touch 5Gen+, iPad 3, 4, Air, Mini, iOS 6.13+, Samsung Galaxy S4, Note3, Google Nexus 4/5, BLE-ready Windows Phone 8.1+.

$169$199$249

Ringly was designed as 8k-gold plated ring that connects with iOS or Android-driven smartphones and discreetly notifies the user about the notifications received on her smartphone.

Depending on the command given, the user is notified by the ring when she receives a call or a text, a reminder alarm or any notification by an app used on the device.

The notifications by Ringly can be customized through 4 vibration patterns and 5 different colours of light. As the rings do not enable user to react to the calls or texts through the jewellery itself, they are placed in the Passive wearable segment.

With 4 different colours of stone-based rings, plus a limited edition of Dive Bar ring made from a semi-precious stone, Ringly is mentioned as a smart fashion accessory and has been featured in Glamous, ABC News, ELLE, BuzzFeed and Fashionista, so far.

$195

Designed to help active women to make healthier choices in their daily routine, Ear-O-Smart is designed as the world’s first smart earrings - patent pending. The inventor company, BiOSensive Technologies Inc. claims that they fill a significant gap in the wearable technology market for women which is accounting for around 51.7%.

Connected to smartphone with Bluetooth 4.0 wireless technology, it allows the wearer to monitor data such as heart rate, calories burned, and activity data during the day.

The starting point of the device is the aesthetics it has in contrast to many other “bulky” wristbands in the market.

Mentioned as futuristic success to be used in any occasion from fitness saloons to formal dinners, favourable comments towards Ear-O-Smart so far appeared in Forbes, BBC, Yahoo News and CBC News, etc.

Not released yet

Swarovski Shine Ringly Ear-O-Smart


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WHAT IS NEXT?


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Invisible

Varietyof

Choices

Autonomous

Personalized

MultiFunctional

In the future of wearables industry, data to be gathered will be the main concern

of designs in addition to the smart style of the products. More accurately

gathered data will be provided to the wearer in a more invisible way, which

will both prevent the nerdy look, and will ease the wearability of the device.

Variety of choices will include not only the technologies to gather data, but

also the consumption segments in addition to the ones currently in the

market. Meanwhile, the devices will be upgradable in order to keep pace

with the progressing technology.

The collaborations between technology and fashion will increase as both

industries need to understand each other’s dynamics. But after all, it is likely

to claim that fashion and luxury companies may adopt to the cutting-edge

technologies, with a slow pace.

Whilst autonomous devices will become trendy, the price-range will be low

for both passive and autonomous categories. This will result in the use of

multiple wearables per person.

Consumers with more wearables than ever will need the control in their hands.

In other words, wearables will be working within permission of the wearer.

Upgradable


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