Day 2 Highlights MARCH 17, 2016 SMART CLOTHING HAS FOUND ENTERPRISE UTILITY, BUT ITS EVERYDAY USE IS STILL UNDEFINED

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1 Day 2 Highlights While smart clothing has found enterprise utility, its everyday use is still undefined. Fitness trackers can be inaccurate and alter the wearer s fitness data, adversely influencing the outcome of training plans. The wrist is prime real estate for wearables and machine learning is a key market enabler for wearable devices. On the second and final day of the Wearable Technology Show (WTS) 2016, we witnessed lively debates about the current state of the Internet of Things (IoT) in smart textiles, sports and fitness tracking. We have outlined some of our key takeaways below. SMART CLOTHING HAS FOUND ENTERPRISE UTILITY, BUT ITS EVERYDAY USE IS STILL UNDEFINED In a panel discussion on creating wearables for first responders and the military, Mark Bernstein, CEO of Wearable Technologies, outlined how clothing for this segment of customers has changed. Public safety professionals uniforms need to be practical and durable, he said, with the degree of durability increasing along with the intensity of the work carried out. Also, the smart elements that accompany the clothing the switches, lights, sensors and batteries need to blend in and not obstruct the wearer s ability to carry out critical tasks, he said. Apart from durability, public safety professionals garments need to be washable without difficulty a problem that has been solved, to an extent, with the development of washable electronics. While mission-critical clothing is beneficial to public safety professionals, Maxwell Lowe, Senior Analyst from the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, acknowledged that it may not be a highly sustainable business category for manufacturers. Lowe noted that militaries and other armed forces aim to buy long-lasting products that do not need to be replaced regularly, meaning these garments have a low frequency of purchase compared to regular clothing. So, for manufacturers and developers of such high-tech garments, this may not be a sustainable product category. 1

2 MARCH 17, 2016 Figure 1. A Panel Discussion About Mission-Critical Clothing In another animated discussion on the future of smart textiles, the panelists unanimously agreed that smart clothing has yet to find a practical, everyday use in people s lives. Sven Böhmer of Statex, a smart fabric and yarn supplier, highlighted the lack of convergence between the electronics and textile industries. Matthew Drinkwater, Head of Fashion Innovation Agency at the London College of Fashion, added that the fashion industry needs more opportunities for designers to work with such technology and learn how to create products that will have mass-market appeal. Figure 2. A Panel Discussion on the Future of Smart Textiles 2

3 FITNESS TRACKERS CAN BE INACCURATE, ALTER THE USER S FITNESS DATA AND ADVERSELY INFLUENCE THE OUTCOME OF TRAINING PLANS Burkhard Duemler, Director of IT Innovation Program & Projects at Adidas, presented his company s findings on its fitness wearables. He mentioned that, in order to be successful, running apps need to have fitness programs that users follow in a disciplined manner. He also noted that many fitness trackers on the market exhibit varying levels of inaccuracy in their readings of the users activities. This can lead to an incorrect analysis of data and adversely influence the outcome of users fitness-training plans. Duemler noted that the wrist is most dominant spot for wearables to be worn on the human body, and that fitness wearables should be measuring not estimating the user s vital signs. In conclusion, he remarked that good-quality metrics and precise data analytics can provide the right insights to help developers build holistic tools and improve users daily lives. Figure 3. A Graph Representing the Percentage of Inaccuracies Discovered in Eight Wristband Fitness Trackers THE WRIST IS PRIME REAL ESTATE FOR WEARABLES AND MACHINE LEARNING IS A KEY MARKET ENABLER Participants in a discussion about how to best differentiate fitness trackers in a crowded market also noted that the wrist is prime real estate for wearables. Andrew Statham, CEO of ATO-gear, said that wearing an accessory on the wrist may never become obsolete because it makes the accessory highly visible and implies certain positive things about the social status or lifestyle habits of the wearer. But in a market flooded with wristband trackers, device makers need to consider some key points in order to successfully differentiate their products. Mladen Barbaric, Founder and CEO of Pearl Studios, and Annina Verkkomaki, Co- Founder of Omuus, talked about these differentiators. Barbaric pointed out that most 3

4 people want a wearable that is elegant and discreet and that blends in with the wearer s look. To appeal to more female consumers and Asian consumers, who naturally exhibit smaller physical characteristics, wearable makers need to introduce products that cater to them, Verkkomaki said. She added that machine learning through which a device records a user s patterns and adjusts itself accordingly will be an important enabler for the market to grow, as people prefer to automate rather than program devices repeatedly. Figure 4. A Panel Discussion About Active Tracking and Its Suitability for Various Purposes Finally, here is a gallery that features some of the exhibitors we saw at the show and their exciting products. Figure 5. Vizuality Studio s VR Experience 4

5 Figure 6. The Jaguar F-PACE Connected Car Figure 7. TomTom s New Golfer 2 Wearable 5

6 Figure 8. Samsung s Wearables and the VicoVR Sensor, Which Supports the Samsung Gear VR 6

7 Deborah Weinswig, CPA Managing Director Fung Global Retail & Technology New York: Hong Kong: China: John Mercer Analyst Swaroop Muralidhar Research Assistant HONG KONG: 10th Floor, LiFung Tower 888 Cheung Sha Wan Road, Kowloon Hong Kong Tel: LONDON: Marylebone Road London, NW1 6JQ United Kingdom Tel: 44 (0) NEW YORK: 1359 Broadway, 9 th Floor New York, NY Tel: FBICGROUP.COM 7