by Have no interest in an iOS-compatible smartwatch? What would you say to an iOS-compatible smart shirt? In what appears to be a first for the fashion industry, luxury designer Ralph Lauren is hoping you’ll say “yes.” This week at the U.S. Open Tennis Championships, the brand is outfitting ball boys and one top tennis player in shirts that relay performance information to iOS devices.
“Everyone is exploring wearable tech watches and headbands and looking at cool sneakers,” said David Lauren, Ralph Lauren’s executive vice president of advertising, in an interview with the New York Times. “We skipped to what we thought was new, which is apparel. We live in our clothes. We want to control the technology and make it applicable to our life in a way that is refined and comfortable. Nothing clunky that you have to strap on. You’re just putting on a shirt.”
The black nylon shirts, created via a partnership with OMsignal, are reportedly able to keep track of the wearer’s heart rate and stress levels with the help of silver-coated thread and sensors woven into the fabric. The information, stored in a “black box” that wearers clip onto their shirts, is then sent to an app on the user’s smartphone where it delivers the information in the form of a a variety of reports. (Swimming with one, in case you were wondering, is reportedly out of the question.)
Marcos Giron, currently the top singles player in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, is the only participant apart from the ball boys who’ll be wearing the shirt, and then only during practice sessions. Ralph Lauren plans to release an entire line of such wearable technology sometime next year, but there’s currently no word on how much they’ll set you back. Considering the prices of the brand’s normal clothing, however, it’s likely you’ll end up saving money if you buy a MacBook instead.
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