Technothreads take off

FASHION and technology don’t appear mutually exclusive. One is aesthetic; the other functional. Yet this surface incompatibility belies untold commercial potential. Hot on the trend radar for 2013 are ‘wearables’ or wearable technology — garments that do more than simply look good. Shoes that detect wireless connections, tracksuit bottoms that tell you how far you’ve been running, social networking t-shirts and textiles with memory storing fibre are just some of the 3.0 gadgetry on the rise. If it sounds like you’ve entered a style tardis; think again. This isn’t a glimpse into the future. It’s happening right now.

In fact the future is so near that tech analyst Jupiter Research estimates wearable computing to generate revenues of $1.5bn in 2014 with annual unit sales rising from $15m to $70m by 2017. Given the lucrative nature of techno threads; not to mention their attendant bragging rights, the race to create functional fashion with mass appeal is well under way.

A glimpse of this brave new world hit the catwalks of New York Fashion Week last September when Diane Von Furstenberg accessorised her spring/summer 13 line with Google Glass — the internet behemoth’s eponymous augmented reality frames.