Anticipating Computational Fashion

"Fashion" is not the first word that comes to mind when thinking about technology, and nowhere does this seem truer than when it comes to wearable technology. Wearables, by their very nature, are for public display, and most wearable devices exhibit the design aesthetic of a blinking VCR.

Despite this, forecasts for wearables are robust. Technology market research firm IDC predicts a 173% increase in wearable device shipments worldwide in 2015, and anticipates shipment volumes will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 42.6% through 2019.

The Search for Stylishness

Their lack of style could keep wearable tech products from achieving true mass-market adoption; as a result, many wearable tech companies are partnering with fashion brands in order to broaden their visual appeal. For instance, fitness tracker Fitbit partnered with luxury brand Tory Burch on accessories that include a smart pendant, bracelet, and wristband. In another example, Intel collaborated with Opening Ceremony on the MICA (My Intelligent Communication Accessory), a smart "standalone communication" bracelet that is available exclusively at luxury retailer Barney’s. While it is not precisely a technology partnership, fashion house Gucci is jumping into the fray, announcing it is working with musician Will.i.am on a smart band that can make calls, send texts, and play music.

Apple is hoping to replicate the success it had with the iPhone in the smartphone market with the Apple Watch in the wearables market. Before its introduction, almost all of the functionality of the original iPhone already existed on other phones, but by injecting some STEAM into STEM by adding great design, Apple turbocharged the market for smartphones. Similarly, the iWatch does not bring anything new to wearables, but Apple will likely follow the same playbook for the Apple Watch that it did for the iPhone to leverage success in the wearables market.

Recently, Apple has been trying to become more fashionable by hiring Paul Deneve, the former head of luxury fashion house Yves Saint Laurent, and Angela Ahrendts, previously Burberry’s CEO, but adding this luster of luxury may be to no avail in the case of the Apple Watch in the long term. In "Why I’m Breaking Up With the Apple Watch," The New York Times fashion director and chief fashion critic Vanessa Friedman concluded the Apple Watch is merely "a tech accessory pretending to be a fashion accessory."

In a panel discussion at last fall’s New York Fashion Week, Harper’s Bazaar global fashion director Carine Roitfeld said, "the problem with technology is it’s a bit cold. It’s a bit sharp." In order to achieve widespread consumer adoption, wearables need to become fashion-forward or, from a fashion perspective, warmer and softer.

To date, wearables have been largely limited to the wrist, with smart watches and smart bands predominating. A recent report from technology market research firm Gartner on wearable electronic fitness devices predicts smartwatches will outsell smart wrist bands for the first time this year, indicating a desire for functionality beyond fitness tracking. Interestingly, Gartner also is forecasting that smart garments, garments with biometric or tactile sensing capabilities woven into the fabric, will come virtually out of nowhere to become the dominant category of the wearable devices market in 2016.

Beyond the Wrist

Other wearables beyond the wrist have not fared well, with Google Glass a case in point. Google Glass debuted in 2013, but failed to find a market as the technology was largely deemed to be too invasive. Even though Google partnered with designer Diane von Furstenburg to bring a patina of fashion to Glass, it was not enough to overcome the "nerd factor" that wearers of Google Glass exuded. Google halted sales of Glass in January and is currently rebooting Glass with Luxottica in another attempt to crack the consumer market. While Google Glass may find niches in industrial and healthcare applications, success in the consumer market has proven elusive.

In the meantime, Google has moved on to wearable tech clothes with Project Jacquard, which hopes to weave touch and gesture interactivity into textiles by creating conductive yarns that allow everyday objects, like clothing and furniture, to be transformed into interactive surfaces. Google has signed Levi’s as its first connected clothing partner, although no specific products have been announced, just the intent to decouple the touch interface from a digital device and move it to your jeans.

Threading sensors into fibers and fabrics is no easy task, and the infusion of technology into apparel has to be seamless in order to gain widespread acceptance. Digital fabrics need to be inexpensive, flexible, durable, washable, potentially rechargeable, and embedded in a manner consumers will not notice. In an interview with Wired Magazine, Project Jacquard project lead Ivan Poupyrev said, "If you can weave the sensor into the textile, as a material, you’re moving away from the electronics. You’re making the basic materials of the world around us interactive."

Montreal-based Hexoskin is an early leader in the smart clothing sector, with a developer-friendly open wireless platform. In June, Hexoskin announced it is selling its smart shirt through Best Buy in Canada. "Demand for smart garments has been mainly for sports applications so far," says Hexoskin CEO Pierre-Alexandre Fournier, "but there are many enterprise solutions, like safety, security, and especially for health monitoring, even remotely. There will be lots of opportunity in many different markets, and you’ll see many specialized products." Fournier is bullish on smart clothing becoming a widespread market, even though many specialized apps may drive the market instead of a single killer application. "The more people use it, the more evident and possible it becomes, at a lower price."

Intel is also jumping into wearable technology in a big way. "Intel’s New Devices Group was formed two years ago specifically to capitalize on the wearables market," according to Tom Foldesi, senior director of Business Development for the New Devices Group. Intel’s goal is to be anywhere a product computes, and it has announced partnerships with a wide variety of companies to bring wearable products to the market, such as SMS Audio for heart-monitoring earbuds, Oakley for smart sport glasses, Tag Heuer and Google for high-end smart watches, and Fossil for other wearables.

Intel, Foldesi says, provides best-in-class hardware and software tools to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and lets them design the optimum customer experience for their end-users, which presents a myriad of opportunity for developers. OEMs are in touch with the desires of their customers, he says, and this could be the manner in which wearable technology ultimately cracks the fashion code to drive consumer adoption.

Foldesi sees the market for wearables developing over the next two to five years, and does not expect a single killer app to drive the wearables market. "The market for smart garments will be huge, with an early-stage bifurcation between consumer and industrial markets," he says. "The industrial market will likely develop faster, especially in manufacturing, and oil and gas, or anywhere where monitoring and safety are an issue. The consumer market will take longer to evolve, with key enablers being form-factors, convenience, and battery life."

John Delaney is a freelance technology writer based in Brooklyn, N.Y.