Performance and Wearable Technology in the Fashion Industry - Essay Example

Performance and Wearable Technology in the Fashion Industry By + Performance and Wearable Technology in the Fashion Industry Introduction Performance and wearable technology is a term used to define products that a person has to wear for a specified duration, significantly improving the performance of the individual’s experience as they wear the product (Fufezan, 2009, n.p.). These products have to contain wireless connectivity and advanced circuitry. Further, these products need to have a minimal level independent capability to process physiological information. Performance and wearable technologies have five categories of applications (SNS, 2013, 12). The first is the wellness and fitness category. Products that are both wearable and smart gadgets are used to monitor the emotions and the activity of the user (Gaimster, 2012, 170). The second is the medical and health care category. In this category, the devices require the approval of the FDA or an equivalent body, relative to the country in which the products are on sale. These devices assist in monitoring the user’s vital signs as well as the augmentation of the wearer’s senses (Editorialist, n.d., n.p.). The third is the military and industrial category. In this category, the performance and wearable technology has the ability to transmit and receive real-time data in both industrial and military environments. The fourth category is infotainment. Products under this category have the ability to transmit and receive real-time information for purposes of entertainment as well as espouse the enhancement of the wearer’s lifestyle (SportTechie, n.d., n.p.). To find out more on the employment of technology in fashion, the researcher shall undertake a primary research through use of questionnaires. These questionnaires will contain structured questions that will enable the respondent to provide their opinion on the effects of performance and wearable technology on different sectors in the economy, including the fashion industry. The respondents will be selected from the fashion industry to enable the researcher to acquire relevant information concerning the effects of technology in fashion. The questionnaire to be used for the primary research is attached to this document. Effects of Performance and wearable technology to the society Performance and wearable technology has diverse effects on the society (Gaimster, 2012, 176). To understand these effects, the following sectors will be examined. Effects on Wellness and Fitness Performance and wearable technology has contributed considerably to the development of fitness and wellness, especially through the devices that assist in monitoring an individual’s physical development (Scaturro, 2008, 471). The demand for Performance and wearable technology products in this category comes from professional athletes, managers of corporate wellness programs as well as consumers of recreational fitness. With more people seeking to become fit and improve the quality of their lives, Performance and wearable technology devices play a major role by helping them monitor their advancement as they train, as well as ensuring that they stay safe and that they do not strain (MENA Report, 2014, 4). More people are purchasing Performance and wearable technology clothing and devices. Over a period of three years, companies such as Adidas, Amer, Nike, Under Armour and GNC have increased their revenues, leading to an overall increase in revenue of 10% in the industry (Editorialist, n.d., n.p.). This indicates that more people are undertaking fitness and wellness programs. In addition to that, there are more than 230 million installations of fitness applications by smart phone owners annually. Effects on Health care and the medical field Performance and wearable technology devices have improved the medical field as well as the health care industry as a whole. Aside from reducing the costs of health care by enabling people to maintain healthy lifestyles by practicing, performance and wearable technology have made it easier for doctors to detect defects in the human body on time (SNS, 2013, 12). Smart glasses and head ware are increasingly being used in hospitals to manage diseases such as diabetes through a label reader, educating patients, accessing patient records and improving emergency responses. Further, they have enabled complex activities such as surgery and hearing augmentation to become relatively easier. Health care practitioners can treat inner injuries like brain injury with better technology (May, 2013, 7). Effects on entertainment/infotainment With the advent of technology came the manufacturing of smartphones. Of all the categories of performance and wearable technology, this category is the one that has been exploited the most (SportTechie, n.d., n.p.). It is estimated that almost half a billion smartphones were shipped in the year 2011 alone. Projections indicate that smart phone manufacturers will ship more than 1.2 billion smartphones annually by 2016. The number of people using smartphones keeps increasing every year, while smart phone technology keeps advancing (Editorialist, n.d., n.p.). Application developers ensure that with every new smart phone, new applications come into the market. As the number of smart phone owners increases and the smart phones fast turning into an information hub for their users, analysts foresee a situation where new devices will enter the market with the ability to connect to smart phones and exchange data with them (Scaturro, 2008, 474). Smart glasses and smart watches are already sharing data with smart phones, case in point being the i-Watch by Apple Inc. The number of people with access to video games has grown tremendously over the last ten years. All over the world, there are more than 35 million and 77 million registered X-box and PlayStation users respectively. This market has taken advantage of the opportunity for developing devices for augmented reality such as smart glasses and heads-up displays, which have enhanced the gaming experience (MENA Report, 2014, 4). Effects on industry and military In the industry, Performance and wearable technology has been applied in the development of heads-up display especially used in the production lines. The employees can know with relative ease the process of production aside from what they should expect as the process of production goes on. In warehousing and logistics, hand-worn terminals are evidence of performance and wearable technology. Further, the development of smart clothing has aided manufacturing companies to have the ability to track the location of employees as well as detect leakages of industrial gases in the premises (Editorialist, n.d., n.p.). The hand-worn terminals will form the majority of Performance and wearable technology products in the industrial sector according to experts (AP Online, 2014, 12). Further, they forecast the growth rate of the wireless device market in industrial applications to be at a compound rate of 18% between 2011 and 2015 (NPD Group, 2014, n.p.). In the military, several programs such as the FFW for the US, IAS for Israel and the FIST for the UK have been developed. These militaries, along with a handful others, have developed these programs to track the training of their personnel. The military has developed HUDs that help in the provision of information concerning routes and maps, as well as improving a soldier’s situational awareness. Smart clothing support these programs. They work by sensing and transmitting physiological parameters like body temperature and blood pressure. These clothing also adjust the temperature of the clothing accordingly (Scaturro, 2008, 478). Effects of Performance and wearable technology to the fashion industry Traditionally, the fashion sector and the technology sector were deemed to be incompatible. People had not given much thought to aesthetically pleasing accessories that contain built-in technology. This is not the case today, as manufacturers of luxury clothing brands have teamed up with technology developers to come up with clothing and clothing accessories fitted with different technological abilities to suit the needs of the user (Fufezan, 2009, n.p.). Nike and Ralph Lauren, which is a luxury-clothing brand, were some of the first clothing production lines to introduce performance and wearable technology in its products. Nike set the trend with its FuelBand line that uses a fuel metric designed by Nike to measure tracking activity. FuelBand is compatible with iPhone or iPad as well as android devices (Nike.com, n.d., n.p.). The device, which the user wears on the wrist, allows the wearer to track all their physical activity and the amount of energy that they have burned and the steps that the user has taken in a day. The information that the wristband generates is integrated into Nike’s application and into the organization’s online community (Nike.com, n.d., n.p.). This technologically advanced fashion item allows the user to set his or her fitness goals and monitor the progress their making regarding fitness. The user can compare their progress to that of others with the same gadget. Nike has the Nike Fuel Points, which users can unlock achievements and share them with friends or for competition purposes (Nike.com, n.d., n.p.). However, the company plans to stop producing the FuelBand to undertake other digital evolution priorities. The company is expected to design better technologically advanced fashion items in the future (SportTechie, n.d., n.p.). Ralph Lauren is the first luxury fashion brand to unveil a collection of smart apparel. The luxury brand is set to launch the Polo Tech shirt. Ralph Lauren’s Polo Tech shirt is a high-performance, fashion forward innovative product that shows the fashion company’s ability to merge biometric into an apparel of active lifestyle. This innovation marks a revolution in the use of advanced technology with the design structured to increase personal fitness as well as improve the overall wellness of the users. The company hopes to unveil it during the US Open. The Polo Tech shirt has sensors within the shirt that have the ability to read both physiological and biological information about the user. The shirt has a second-skin fit, which enhances the agility and comfort of the wearer. This special shirt was designed using proprietary technology from OMsignal, a Canada-based technology organization. The team of technology professionals working at this organization includes specialists in engineering, sports medicine and neuroscience (May, 2013, 7). This indicates that the Ralph Lauren has developed a shirt with considerable health value to the users, especially sports men and women. OMsignal designed the shirt itself to serve as a sensor. The technology used on the shirt delivers an array of information regarding the user’s physiology via seamless apparel directly to the user’s smart phone via an application. The data that the shirt collects regarding the physiology of the wearer is stored in a technological device called the ‘black box’. The ‘black box’ then transmits that data to a cloud system (Gajitz, 2014, n.p.). While at the cloud, the data gets plugged into several algorithms which measure the importance essential biometrics related to performance. Such information includes respiration and the heartbeat of the user. The algorithms also measure the user’s psychometric information, which include the energy output as well as the stress levels. The company also has several initiatives in the realm of technology, such as the Dog Walk and the Light Show, which uses the 4-Dimensional view (Gajitz, 2014, n.p.). How performance and wearable technology operate Nike’s FuelBand The Nike FuelBand is a performance and wearable device that required the user to wear it on the wrist. This specially designed gadget works to measure all the activities that an individual involves in and provides the person with such information through a LED screen on its surface. No matter the nature of activity that a person involves in, the FuelBand will calculate the rate of activity as the person wearing the device continues with that activity and others. The person sets the amount of activity that they require to undertake per day. Whenever they reach that target, such information appears on the screen, with a congratulatory and a celebratory message. In short, the gadget measures and quantifies the results of an individual’s lifestyle. The structure of the gadget favours its use. The device is a slim band that looks like a bracelet. The user can go about other businesses of the day without necessarily remembering that the FuelBand is still on their wrist. Once the person sets the goal they hope to achieve with regard to the level of activity and the device begins its work immediately. This wearable device has an accelerometer in its structure. The accelerometer is responsible for the calculation of the movement of a person. In keeping track of the movement of the wearer, the FuelBand calculates the speed at which the person wearing it is moving and the number of steps that they take per any given day. On the surface of this wearable device is a tiny button. This button serves a number of purposes, considering that it is the only button on the device. For example, if the person wearing the device wishes to view the statistics on the progress that they are making with regard to some specific activity, say movement, the person would have to press the button on the device and the LED screen on the device would light up with the information required. The LED screen on the FuelBand has 120 lights, making the inscriptions on it to be visible. Upon tapping the button, the device would provide the wearer with the number of steps that the person has taken that day, as well as the speed that the person was travelling at. In addition to that, the device will give the user detailed information on the amount of calories that their body has burnt since they set the wearable device. Aside from the physiological information about the progress that the person wearing the gadget makes, the FuelBand provides details about the time and the amount of NikeFuel that the wearer has gained. The NikeFuel is something like a loyalty reward scheme formulated by Nike to congratulate the wearers of the FuelBand. This application allows the wearer to keep track of not only his progress, but also of other people wearing the same device. The information concerning the progress that a connected group of wearers are making regarding their practice and activity goes to the website of Nike through the NikeFuel application. In this way, the wearers of the wearable device can work harder in some form of competition. Through the NikeFuel, Nike has developed a way of correlating the movements of the wearable device’s accelerometer with certain selected activities related to fitness. Nike has gone a step further to create a method through which it translates all the information concerning the activities as measured by the device into a specific NikeFuel number. The main purpose that the NikeFuel serves is to bring every user of the FuelBand, bringing together their statistics and measuring them using one unit of measurement to measure their activity. Measuring the activities of all users using the same parameters helps in the creation of a level ground on which the wearers of the device can assess and compare the progress that they are making against the progress that others using the same device are making with accuracy. This helps a person working towards fitness to work harder to achieve the levels of fitness that his friends or colleagues have attained, if the work out is an initiative undertaken as a group. While people with issues with their level of fitness and weight worry about finding out the amount of calories that they have consumed against the amount of calories that they have burned, NikeFuel helps people focus on the quantity of NikeFuel that the person has accumulated. This change in perspective is essential in shifting the attention of the user from the dangers that they face concerning their health to finding a target that they would like to beat. In the process, they end up improving their health. The Nike Fuel gives the wearers an interactive forum where their spirit of competition gives them the ultimate reward that they seek, and that is an improvement in their overall health. This performance and wearable device is coordinated with the iPhone application and the Nike website, as mentioned earlier. The special wristband connects to the application through Bluetooth and to the website through a USB built into the device. On the website, a user of the FuelBand can log on at their convenience to assess graphs showing the history of their activity tabulated by the day, or even by the week. Such information can also be recorded for the month or the year, depending on the information that the user needs. In general, the FuelBand is a performance and wearable technological device that is easy to use. The battery on the product, the Nike website shares, can last four days. The battery is powerful enough to endure all the activities that the small device undertakes without depleting its power rapidly. This makes the FuelBand a reliable device that one can use without concerns of energy. The accuracy of the FuelBand is of top standard. Several tests have been run on the gadget and the accuracy is without doubt. The FuelBand measures up to the arm movements to the most accurate number. The most advantageous thing about this special device is the fact that it reminds the user to adopt a healthier lifestyle, full of physical activity. In the event that the wearer gets slack and fails to take the initiative to engage in physical activity, the device notifies them with numerical evidence to indicate the lack of adequate physical activity. The FuelBand has a 3-axis accelerometer along with an ambient light sensor for its sensors. The display has 20 colour and 100 white lights in its LED. Effects of performance and wearable technology to the lifestyle and fashion industries Health concerns Performance and wearable technology has had a considerable effect on the lifestyle industry. The statistics regarding people in the society at risk of contracting conditions associated with being overweight are astounding. In the United States alone, more than 60% of the population is overweight. A person can get numerous conditions from being overweight. Such conditions include obesity and diabetes. Performance and wearable devices serve to encourage people who face such risks to adopt a healthy lifestyle. By engaging in physical activities such as walking and running, the person loses weight. Weight loss, no matter how slight, means a lot because it reduces an individual’s chances of contracting the life-threatening conditions related to having an imbalanced BMI. Wearable devices serve as medical devices. For individuals suffering heart conditions, the electronic sensors on the wearable devices are capable of monitoring the rae at which the heart beats in real-time. They can communicate such information to the users, alerting them of any inconsistencies and abnormalities. Culture Culture affects the behaviour of individuals, their decisions as well as their beliefs. The fact that wearable devices have considerable positive effects has led to many people accepting the gadgets in their daily culture. The elderly who have not had the culture of engaging in exercise feel the need to undertake physical activity because their health and fitness depends on it. It is imperative to note that the use of these devices does not in any way change the perception that one has with regard to religion and other personal sensitive matters. This has contributed to wearable devices gaining acceptance in every society. Motivation via mobile With projections of the wearable technology market growing to $70 billion by the year 2024 from the current $14 billion, the trend of using performance and wearable technology devices is fast gaining acceptance among people. People have developed increased interest in the products because they motivate them to understand the gamification of life or, in other times, their quantified self. People have become increasingly motivated about improving their lifestyle by these devices. More people in the contemporary society can make educated decisions and informed choices on the activities that they choose to engage in everyday in an attempt to improve their well-being, fitness and health. Wearable devices encourage the wearers to set the goals that they hope to achieve with regard to physical activity on a daily basis and monitor the changes as they take place. The devices allow the users to measure their progress and build on such progress until such a time when they are sufficiently fit and healthy. Users engage in increased physical activity, achieve, and realign their goals based on the history of their performance. As the users optimize their behaviour by themselves and edge closer towards the achievement of the set goals, wearable devices assist them further by suggesting new activities and targets with the aim of encouraging the wearer of the device to enhance their performance. Social gamification Aside from the measurement of individual performance having numerous positive effects, the wearable devices’ social gamification plays an integral role in the encouragement of users to record better performances. Some of the devices such as the FuelBand have social leader boards. These leader boards allow users to measure their performance against that of others using the same brand of the device and engage in social competition. As of now, the market for the performance and wearable devices has a fragmented nature, in that there is no social leader board cutting across wearable brands and devices manufactured by different companies. There is likely to be a change in this circumstance, with researchers working towards achieving a single social leader board for all brands and types of performance and wearable devices. Effects of performance and wearable technology on fashion As mentioned earlier, the fashion industry had not anticipated the inclusion of technology in the making of apparels. However, in the current set up, such inclusion has gone beyond the knowledge and understanding of most fashion enthusiasts. Looking at the current market for wearable devices , we see instances of wearable devices changing people’s experiences with fashion. Disney produced the MagicBand. The MagicBand allows people who visit parks to enjoy an experience personalized for them. Everpurse, a prominent women’s handbag manufacturer, has come up with a special handbag line with the ability to charge the owner’s smartphone automatically. The FuelBand tracks biometrics and movements and gives results of burnt calories and achievement of physical activity goals. The FuelBand was the main driver of Nike’s 18% profit increase in the year 2012. The Google Glass, a computer that a person can wear, presents information directly in the wearer’s field of vision. This indicates the changes that performance and wearable technologies have on the fashion industry. Of particular importance is that the ability of the product to present information on an individual’s physiology does not necessarily mean that the product’s aesthetics have to change. A notable example is in the production of shoes with GPS navigation. These shoes have the ability to present directions covertly in the form of small LED lights, which inform the user about the direction that they should go and where to turn. Innovative Concept The introduction of technology into fashion has opened a completely new point of view in creativity and design. Such developments have inspired the idea of having a jacket that has sensors that detect movement by foreign objects towards the wearer and communicates such information to them on a timely basis. The specially designed jacket could also have the ability to inform the user of the speed at which they are moving. Such a jacket would be wearable by individuals who ride motorbikes and fast cars. The advantage of such a development is that it would help in the reduction of road accidents, which claim thousands of lives every year. The jacket could also be of great assistance to drivers with either visual or hearing impairment by giving them more awareness on their environment as they move. Drivers and riders would get timely information on approaching pedestrians or other road users on time to control their vehicles or motor bikes and avoid an accident. The possibility of such an idea being implemented receives support from the technology that has been used in the development of the FuelBand and the Polo Tech. The sensors on the Polo Tech t-shirt give information on the body movement of the person wearing it while the sensors on the FuelBand can measure the speed at which a person is moving. Researcch should find ways of putting such sensors together in a complete product so that both the speed and movement by other objects can be detected on time so that the person driving or riding can avoid accidents. Conclusion Different fashion houses, especially world-renowned luxury brands, are increasingly adopting performance and wearable technology in their production. Already, numerous fashion shows are organized around the world for performance and wearable technology-oriented fashion houses where they display their ability to combine technology with high fashion (SNS, 2013, 12). Fashion houses are involving technology companies in the development of smart clothing with unique and creative features that impress the user (May, 2013, 7). In future, the market for performance and wearable technology will become stronger. Considering the fact that every clothing company that has included performance and wearable technology in its production has become profitable, more companies will enter the market to have a share of the profits. For instance, by widening its portfolio into the development of performance and wearable technology in its accessories, Nike recorded an 11% growth in revenue in 2012, up from a -1% growth in the previous year. This shows that these technological improvements will change the fashion industry not just because of the creativity, but also because of the health benefits that the products offer (Hoffmann & Maniere, 2012, 38). References Consumer Interest in Purchasing Wearable Fitness Devices in 2014 Quadruples, According to Cea Study. (2013, December 11). States News Service, p. 12. Editorialist. (n.d.). Future Forward. Retrieved October 13, 2014, from https://editorialist.com/magazine/6737/pre-fall-2014-future-forward Fufezan, M. P. (2009, January 1). The management of innovations applied for intelligent garments. (Report). Annals of DAAAM & Proceedings , 63, 12. Gaimster, J. (2012). The changing landscape of fashion forecasting. International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education, 5(3), 169-178. Hoffmann, J., & Maniere, I. (2012). Global luxury trends Innovative strategies for emerging markets. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. How the Wearable Tech Industry Will Impact the Future of Sports. (n.d.). SportTechie. Retrieved October 13, 2014, from http://www.sporttechie.com/2013/10/25/how-the-wearable-tech-industry-will-impact-the-future-of-sports/ Luxury fashion takes on fitness technology. (2014, August 24). AP Online, p. 12. May, P. (2013, April 1). Wearable Tech Extends Its Reach. The Seattle Times, p. 7. NPD Group Report: Consumers Taking Notice of Growing Wearable Technology Market. (2014, January 16). Health & Beauty Close-Up, 42, 33. Nike+ Fuelband SE. Activity Tracker & Fitness Monitor. (n.d.). Nike+ FuelBand SE. Activity Tracker & Fitness Monitor. Nike.com. Retrieved October 12, 2014, from http://www.nike.com/us/en_us/c/nikeplus-fuelband Scaturro, S. (2008). Eco-tech Fashion: Rationalizing Technology In Sustainable Fashion. Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body & Culture, 12(4), 469-488. Scharoun, L. (2009). Western fashion advertising in mainland urban China and its effects on the self image of youth. United Kingdom: Griffith University. United States : Accenture Study Shows Majority of Athletes to Leverage Wearable Devices at 2014 New York City Triathlon. (2014, July 30). Mena Report, p. 4. Questionnaire 1. In what ways do you use technology in fashion? 2. What difference has the inclusion of technology in fashion affected your business/work/organization? 3. In what ways do you think the use of technology has affected the following sectors: i. Industry and military ii. Health care and the medical field iii. Entertainment/infotainment iv. Wellness and fitness v. Lifestyle and fashion industries 4. What are the future trends in fashion, with regard to the inclusion of technology? 5. In what ways will the fashion industry benefit from collaborating with technology firms in the future? Read More