Wearable tech' Geek or chic? by
Russell Higham, 4th Nov. 2014
When
was the last time you saw somebody talking in the street on their
Bluetooth headset and thought “That guy looks SO cool”? Hmmm…I'm
still racking my brains too. Wearable technology is a nascent trend
that’s been around since the days of Star Trek but it rarely ever
looks like something you’d actually want to be seen wearing. Now
that it’s got the attention of some major players in the fashion
and technology industries, however, could things be about to change?
The Apple Watch, Fitbit Flex, Google Glass, Nike FuelBand – are
these the front runners of a style that's going to be around for the
long-haul and become as mainstream and popular as the smartphone
itself has become, or are they destined to be labelled as future
fashion fails? Let's look at some current offerings.
Useful
doesn't have to mean utilitarian: the Puls Smartcuff, recently
launched by ex-Black Eyed Pea Will.i.am in collaboration with
designer Zaha Hadid, is a seriously good looking bit of kit that
offers genuine innovations – such as having its own SIM card so you
don't need a mobile phone to use it – that set it apart from
offerings by Apple and Samsung.
<Photo.1>
This
illuminated evening clutch bag from Moon Berlin uses LED lights to
create a luxurious and futuristic effect; it also applies the same
technology to its range of eye-catching cocktail dresses.
<Photo.2>
Futuristic
is not a word we’d use, however, to describe this attempt at
wearable tech' by the girls' team on 'The Apprentice'. Those
solar-panelled shoulder pads look distinctively 'Dallas' circa
1981...more gin, Sue Ellen?!
<Photo.3>
The
Pebble Steel pulls off the neat trick of being a useful smartwatch
that is compatible with Apple and Android phones whilst actually
managing to looking vaguely desirable and not like the bastard
offspring of a Casio calculator and a piece of jewellery from
PoundLand.
<Photo.4>
Talking
of bizarre mutations, here we have the Adidas “Barricade”
trainers with built-in LED Twitter display. Designed for Olympic
athletes to check their feed for encouraging tweets from fans as they
tie their shoe-laces before events, we can only shudder and hope that
these monstrosities never hit the High Street
<Photo.5>
The
HelloMEMi bracelet, on the other hand (or wrist, to be more specific)
isn't so much visually offensive as just plain pointless. It vibrates
when your iPhone receives a call, text or calendar alert. All very
useful for around £100 but, erm, doesn't the iPhone do that already?
<Photo.6>
Wearable
technology really does have the potential to be the next big thing
but, in order to have enduring mass appeal, manufacturers need to
address some key points:
Product
design will need to give greater attention to form and not just
function with only a vague nod to aesthetics. Overtly masculine,
sport-centric pieces do not always appeal to female consumers; a
recent survey showed that women actually buy more tablets, laptops
and smartphones than men* so this is a market that companies ignore
at their peril.
The
technological aspect of the product should not be too conspicuous:
it's all very well living on the bleeding edge, but nobody wants to
see the messy bloodstains.
The
item should address a need that consumers actually care about enough
to purchase a device for and keep it charged up. Which brings us on
to battery life – if your cool new piece of kit is so power hungry
that you don't dare venture more than fifty feet from an electricity
socket, it's going to have limited appeal.
Apart
from a few collaborations (such as on the Smartcuff, above), wearable
tech' is almost virgin territory for designers and is ripe for
tech-savvy fashion houses to gain first-mover advantage with some
slick, contemporary designs that start making serious in-roads into a
business which is forecast to be worth $10 billion by 2016 and can
only get bigger in the future.
*
source: Parks Associates
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