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- BY\u00a0LIZ STINSON<\/a><\/li>\n
- 02.27.14\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
\n![\"shine\"](\"http:\/\/www.wired.com\/images_blogs\/design\/2014\/01\/shine-660x495.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nMisfit Wearables launched the Shine, an activity tracker that can be worn almost anywhere on your body.\u00a0Image: Misfit Wearables<\/em><\/p>\n
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Last September, right around spring\/winter Fashion Week, an unexpected group of people gathered for a round table discussion at the main offices of the Council of Fashion Designers of America in New York City. Present was Steven Kolb, the CFDA\u2019s CEO, a few higher-ups from Intel and a handful ofCFDA<\/a>\u00a0members who also happen to be big names in fashion and accessory design.<\/p>\n
Intel had called the meeting to discuss the idea of starting a collaboration between the company and the fashion industry at large, with the ultimate goal of figuring out a way turn their decidedly unwearable technology into something people\u2014fashionable people\u2014might actually want to put on their bodies.<\/p>\n
\u2018Tech companies know what is useful, but do we know how to make something desirable?\u2019<\/div>\nEarlier in the summer, Intel, like most every other big technology company out there, had started a division to explore the future of wearable technology. Best known for supplying the processor chips you find in your computer\u2019s guts, Intel has the technology to build what could eventually be a very smart device. They did not, however, have the design and fashion expertise to create stylish hardware.<\/p>\n
\u201cTechnology companies know what is useful, but do we know how to make something desirable?\u201d says Ayse Ildeniz, Intel\u2019s vice president of business development and strategy for new devices. \u201cWe have thousands of hardware and software engineers looking at sensors, voice activation and how to build smart devices, but we wanted to create a platform where they can meet with the aesthetic gurus. There needs to be an alignment and discussion, so breakthroughs can actually come about and flourish.\u201d<\/p>\n
Enter the Hipsters<\/h3>\n
During CES this year, Intel announced the formalization of its partnership with the CFDA, Barney\u2019s and Opening Ceremony, an ultra-hip fashion company tasked with designing the first wearable product to be born from the collaboration. If that wasn\u2019t proof enough that Intel was taking wearables seriously, the company also announced its\u00a0Make It Wearable<\/a>\u00a0competition, which will award $1.3 million in prize money ($500,000 for the grand prize) for whoever who comes up with the most promising design in wearable tech this year. Those are some pretty good incentives.<\/p>\n
![\"UB1B2411](\"http:\/\/www.wired.com\/images_blogs\/design\/2014\/01\/UB1B2411-argent-660x495.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nNetatmo\u2019s June is a UV tracker that takes the form of a jewel designed by French jewelry designer Camille Toupet. It syncs up with your smartphone to help keep track of your skin health.\u00a0Image: Netatmo<\/em><\/p>\n
We\u2019ve only recently begun to see technology and fashion take each other seriously. A few months ago, Apple hired Angela Ahrendts, Burberry\u2019s former CEO, and before that they poached Paul Deneve, Yves Saint Laurent\u2019s CEO. Given the optimistic projections for wearable tech\u2019s influence, the union between these two worlds seems inevitable. If wearable technology makers have learned one thing so far, it\u2019s that just because you make something, it doesn\u2019t mean people are actually going to wear it. Adoption of wearable tech depends on striking a delicate balance between style and functionality, and no one has leveled that see-saw quite yet. And the fashion crowd, as progressive as they are, have never been trained to think through the rigors of product design, ranging from use cases to demographics.<\/p>\n
\u201cProducts are often made with good intentions, but in a vacuum,\u201d says Kolb. \u201cYou have programming people thinking about wearable technology but not necessarily, and I don\u2019t mean this with disrespect, thinking about the aesthetic. Then you\u2019ve got fashion people who are very much focused on the overall look but don\u2019t have the technological language or vocabulary.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kolb explains that oftentimes, fashion people have a sci-fi understanding of what technology can do. On the flip side, technologists and even industrial designers have a difficult time grasping what it means to create something people feel good wearing. \u201cFashion designers are always thinking about things like, how does that clasp close, how does this leather feel?\u201d he says. \u201cThat element might not necessarily be on the radar of a tech person, but it\u2019s definitely on the radar of a fashion person.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Image:](\"http:\/\/www.wired.com\/images_blogs\/design\/2014\/01\/shine2-660x495.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nImage: Misfit Wearables<\/em><\/p>\n
Up to this point, technology companies have approached wearables with a one-size-fits-all mentality. Even Google Glass\u2019 Titanium Collection, while certainly more stylish than the original, hasn\u2019t gotten it quite right. A choice of frames that say, \u201cI write code\u00a0and<\/em>\u00a0like to shop\u201d is a start, but in order for people to really want to wear Glass, we have to be able to seamlessly integrate them into our own very personal style. We have to feel like we\u2019ve had more of a choice in the matter.<\/p>\n
The Missing Link: Modularity<\/h3>\n
\u201cI think fashion and accessory brands in the near future will make glasses that work with Glass in the same way we have accessories and covers for our mobile phones,\u201d explains Syuzi Pakhchyan, accessories lead at Misfit Wearables. \u201cThe key here is to design technology that can be modular and allow others to develop an ecosystem of products that work with your technology.\u201d<\/p>\n
Misfit is the maker of the\u00a0Shine<\/a>, a pretty, smoothed-over disc that acts as an activity tracker. As far as wearable tech goes, the Shine is actually quite lovely. Misfit\u2019s offering is part of an increasing number of wearables that make an honest effort to look good. There are others like Netatmo\u2019s\u00a0June<\/a>, a UV tracker disguised as a sparkling rhinestone that can be worn as a broach or on a leather band around a wrist, and the collaboration between Cellini and CSR to create a Bluetooth-enabled pendant.<\/p>\n
Working Together Earlier<\/h3>\n
The intentions are good, but they all fall a little short, as though the styling was a last minute gloss instead of baked into the actual product. In order for wearables to feel authentically cool, fashion and technology need to begin working together from the earliest moments of product development, discussing what current technology enables and having an an open-minded conversation about how it could be worn.<\/p>\n
\u2018Products are often made with good intentions, but in a vacuum,\u2019 says Kolb.<\/div>\nAs\u00a0Pakhchyan<\/a>\u00a0points out, much like our clothes, not everyone wants or needs to wear the same piece\u00a0of technology, and we don\u2019t necessarily have to wear it all the time either. Tech companies have been chasing the elusive silver bullet smartwatch, but maybe it\u2019s not such a bad thing to treat wearables like the other wearables in our life: As separate, individually-valuable pieces of clothing that can work together to ultimately create the perfect outfit. Staying focused, at least while we\u2019re figuring out what form and functionality works and what doesn\u2019t, might not be such a bad thing.<\/p>\n
Right now, the collaboration between Intel and the CFDA is just getting started. How it will shape up depends on what each organization is trying to achieve. But at least by beginning to build a real bridge between the fashion and technology worlds, we\u2019re opening up discussion about how these industries can benefit each other, which hopefully will lead to some great innovations.<\/p>\n
For what it\u2019s worth, Pakhchyan figures it\u2019s only a matter of time before the parallel paths of technology and fashion intersect for good. And when they do? We\u2019ll probably be seeing a lot more people actually wearing wearables. \u201cI think we\u2019re going to see a lot more beautiful and interesting wearables coming out in the next few years,\u201d she says. \u201cI have a feeling we\u2019re going to look back at these plastic wrist-worn things and be like, \u2018Oh, that was kind of an awkward stage.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Image:TK\"](\"http:\/\/www.wired.com\/images_blogs\/design\/2014\/01\/CSR_greenLED-660x495.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThis pendant prototype, a collaboration between CSR (developers of Bluetooth Smart and jewelry designers Cellini), communicates phone alerts via the glowing green light.\u00a0Image:CSR<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n![\"Liz](\"http:\/\/www.wired.com\/design\/wp-content\/gallery\/biopics\/hs-liz.jpg\")
<\/a><\/div>\n\nLiz is a Brooklyn-based reporter for Wired Design. She likes talking to people about technology, innovation and pretty things.<\/p>\n
Read more by Liz Stinson<\/a><\/p>\n
Follow\u00a0@lizstins<\/a>\u00a0on Twitter.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Where tech meets fashion… Classy photos of integrated wearables in this story. http:\/\/www.wired.com\/design\/2014\/02\/can-fashion-tech-work-together-make-wearables-truly-wearble\/ What\u2019s the Secret to Making Wearables That People Actually Want? BY\u00a0LIZ STINSON 02.27.14\u00a0 Misfit Wearables launched the Shine, an activity tracker that can be worn almost anywhere on your body.\u00a0Image: Misfit Wearables Last September, right around spring\/winter Fashion Week, an unexpected … Continue reading Fashionable wearables…<\/span>
- 02.27.14\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n