Smart garments—defined as garments that have been “woken up” with digital technology—have been commercially available for more than five years. Despite their potential, connected clothing has yet to become mainstream. Why is that? Apparel Sourcing Week’s Nitish Varshney wanted to find out.
There are a number of factors that explain why smart garments haven’t been adopted by mass consumers yet. Amanda Cosco, Founder, Electric Runway, Canada, says the first and foremost reason is price. In the age of fast fashion, smart garments cost more significantly than regular clothes. “Usability, availability, privacy and use cases are few more strong reasons. While some smart garments can be washed, many of them require special care which a regular consumer avoids. Besides, consumers are becoming increasingly anxious about their data privacy and what kind of information they’re uploading on the cloud,” says Amanda, adding, “Perhaps the most important reason is that there’s no strong use case for wearing smart garments daily. Consumers are hesitant to change their habits unless there’s a good reason, and connected clothing hasn’t made a good enough case for itself.”
Read the full article in Apparel Sourcing Weekly
