Ralph Lauren has taken its Polo sports line to another level — starting with a wearable tech smart shirt with embedded biometric features that are available to review in real time.
This shirt, which will first be launched for men — and in time for the U.S. Open — will include sensors that provide data insight into vital signs. This means providing everything from breathing and heart rates to stress levels and calories burned. For Ralph Lauren, this move into the wearable tech world shows it wants to be much more than just clothing, and for the wearables market, this move shows wearable tech is about to get more fashionable.
The PoloTech shirt was featured in the The Wall Street Journal, which cited David Lauren, the company’s executive VP of global advertising, marketing and corporate communications as saying this is “the first major luxury fashion brand to come to market.”
Sure, it’s not the first smart shirt on the market, but this is the first of its kind from a fashion brand that’s not typically focused on athletics. But for the wearables market to really make it to the mainstream shopper, having major fashion brands like Ralph Lauren might help give the market a boost.
As The Journal article notes, the PoloTech shirts was created in collaboration with OMsignal, a Montreal-based maker of wearable-technology products. While it was worn last year by the ball boys at the U.S. Open, it wasn’t on sale to the general public yet.
According to Gartner’s research projections, the smart garment market is still small but it could eventually take off once consumers warm up to the idea of smart products in general. Fitness trackers are already selling like crazy, so smart garments are projected to be the next big thing. This projection includes being roughly a $4.97 billion market in five years’ time.
“It would be foolish not to play in this game, it is where the world is going,” Lauren said.
As Ralph Lauren looks to develop more wearable technology like the PoloTech — which will retail for $295, and go on sale Aug. 27 at its Fifth Avenue shop in NYC — it will first prep by promoting the product at a Ralph Lauren store at the U.S. Open from Aug. 31-Sept. 13.
But that’s just the start, Lauren said. Ties, suits and polo shirts could be next.
“We are setting up divisions within Ralph Lauren to focus on developing all kinds of products across all of our brands,” he said.
[vc_row full_width=”” parallax=”” parallax_image=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”” parallax=”” parallax_image=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_separator color=”grey” align=”align_center” style=”” border_width=”” el_width=””][vc_single_image image=”150747″ alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_shadow_3d” border_color=”grey” img_link_large=”” img_link_target=”_blank” css_animation=”left-to-right” img_size=”full” link=”http://www.pymnts.com/tag/retail/”][vc_column_text]
To check out what else is HOT in Retail, click here.
[/vc_column_text][vc_separator color=”grey” align=”align_center” style=”” border_width=”” el_width=””][/vc_column][/vc_row]
We’re always on the lookout for opportunities to partner with innovators and disruptors.
Learn More