It was only a matter of time fancy lingeriebrand Victorias Secret is now selling a sports brafor around $75 with built in electrodes that hook up to aheart rate monitor. Sign of ourwearable tech times.
Smartgarments were recently identified by analyst Gartner as thefitness wearable with the greatestpotential for growth vs other device types such as smart wristbands, sports watches and chest straps with the rational being thatthe smart garment category isemerging from the testing phase and starting to find its way into products.
Built in tech is also hidden from view which makes it more aesthetically pleasing than the parade of ugly plasticwristbands that have characterized the early years of this space. So smart garments may well be anatural counterbalance reaction to asurfeit ofugly fitness wearables.
Gartner is projecting shipments of smart garmentswillgrow from practically nothing (0.1 million units) in 2014, to 26 million in 2016.
However how smart these garments are remains to be seen, given that clothes need washing regularly and electronics generally dont like taking that kind of punishment.
Whether thisVictorias Secretsports bra would be defined by Garner as a smart garment is another matter. It does not contain a heart rate monitor itself just a pair ofelectrodes that connect your skin and allow a heart rate monitor to be hooked up to the other side.
The product description is light on compatibility details, saying the electrodes will fit most clip-on heart rate monitors from leading brands presumably those that already come with a belt, such as this Garmin model.
A Victorias Secret customer rep was unable to elaborate any further oncompatibility, saying she did not know which models the bra is compatible with, and addingthat the product only does away with the need to wear a separate belt.
So it sounds like the early years of smart garments could squander anyaesthetic advantage by combining it with somenot-so-smart customer service.
Source: Wearable Tech Insider
Source: http://techcrunch.com/2014/11/25/victorias-secret-heart-rate-sports-bra/
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