The wearable tech market is expected to triple in size to over $70 billion in 10 years according to research by IDTechEx. Count on a good chunk of that value coming from fashionable wearable tech that also contributes to the previously mentioned trillion dollar fashion industry. People will make statements about who they are with wearable technology and they’ll do it without wearing ugly, nerdy stuff.
Infusing technology into fashion has become a much steeper challenge than many wearable technology entrepreneurs realised. The smartest players in the wearable technology space are working with people who know what it is like to design things that touch people, touch them physically and touch them emotionally. fashion is, after all, an expression of emotion.
Don’t believe it? Approach anyone you see wearing an accessory, whether it be a watch or anything that isn’t simply on the body to cover nakedness, and ask them why they are wearing what they are wearing. Their response is likely to fall into two categories, they will wear it because of an emotion associated with the giver or moment of acquisition or they will wear it because it makes them feel or look good. No one will wear it because a technology company packaged it up for any number of the features in wearable tech that we are aware of. It counts steps. Who cares! I tell you who cares, all the drawers full of ugly, nerdy wearables gathering dust.
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Josh Bradshaw is a contributing writer for FashNerd.com. He is a Silicon Valley consultant and technology blogger specializing in strategy and marketing for IoT products.