Technology And Fashion Carnival Has Passed. In The Future, Smart Clothing Accounts For Only 3% Of The Market.

In a science and technology center in California, a large influx of non skilled technicians dressed up, some complained about confidentiality agreements, sometimes sneaked a glance, and some talked about subversive gossip.

The reason for all this is a notice enough to change the industry.

Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

However, this scenario did not appear in Apple's recent conference in Cupertino, but in September 9, 2014, when Apple launched AppleWatch in a promotional campaign.

For those who still remember that day, this week's apple conference gave a strange feeling of deja vu.

This also gives us some doubts: what is the relationship between wearable devices and fashion? Five years later, does this relationship still exist? Has technology found new targets for its fashion plot?

For a moment, there is a strong attraction.

Just now, fashion trends change so fast that we can easily forget, but let's take a moment to remember this moment.

As this matter is over, we may all have a lesson.

MimmaViglezio, editor of digital platform ShowStudio, said: "fashion has endless thirst for novelty and future. But apple and Silicon Valley promise this, we can only accept it."

Before the launch of this watch, apple, which has always been committed to the principles of luxury design, has constantly lured executives to work in apple.

The most notable is Yves Saint Laurent chief executive Paul Deneve, PatrickPruniaux and Burberry CEO AngelaAhrendts from Tag Heuer (Angela is considered to be the promoter of technology pformation, and she is responsible for operating entities and electronic retail businesses after coming to Apple).

Like the editor of the British edition Vogue Alexandra Shulman and the editor in chief of Fashionista, Kuby Tino, the fashion giant flew to New York in the fashion cycle and sat in the front row to participate in the apple conference.

Their appearance seems to imply that the fashion exhibition in California is the most important.

During the fashion week in Paris, apple held a press conference at Colette, a super boutique, and invited Karl Lagerfeld.

After the conference, the company hosted a dinner at AzzedineAla a 's restaurant to show Apple accessories such as Olivier Rousteing and other designers and Cara Delevingne models.

AppleWatch appeared in the magazine for the first time in the cover of the Chinese version of Vogue. Apple also published a 12 page advertisement in the US version of Vogue.

A year after its debut, Apple also announced a partnership with Hermes during the fashion week.

In May of the same year, the company sponsored MetGala's Manus x Machina fashion show, which was designed to blend fashion and technology with compliments.

Apple CEO Tim Cook took part in the fashion show. Apple's chief design officer, Jony Ive, CO hosted the show with Cond Nast art director and Vogue editor in chief AnnaWintour.

Whatever the symbol, the picture shows everything.

But in any case, apple is only part of it.

Thanks to Diesel Black Gold, Samsung's Gear S debuted in fashion week in September 2014.

Intel collaborate with OpeningCeremony's Humberto Leon and CarolLim to create MICA smart bracelet.

Will.i.am has launched the "puls" bracelet, partly inspired by Chanel's signature Maltese cross Bracers.

Not long after, RalphLauren launched a connected Ricky package with lights and charging ports.

"This is a game changer for our luxury industry," DavidLauren, executive vice president of advertising, marketing and corporate communication, said at the time.

Tag Heuer, Intel and Google jointly built their own Carrera networking watches.

Louis Vuitton launched a networked TambourHorizon and described it as the future Louis Vuitton Internet.

It's like a carnival of smart accessories.

In 2012, when the model wore Google Glass on the T stage of the Diane vonFurstenberg show, almost everyone was daunting, and this moment was simply seen as an embarrassing early warning of a bright future.

But this is the future!

The fashion trend in California will rise in the conservative fashion world, and the charm of fashion will make consumers eager for products.

They do not compete with each other, but gain from each other.

But then, Deneve, Pruniaux and Ahrendts left apple one after another.

A Intel spokesman said the company will "withdraw from the wearable device field of terminal products in 2017" and turn to data analysis for retailers and brands.

A spokesman for Will.i.am said he refocused on artificial intelligence and voice control computing for B2B and B2C hardware.

Ralph Lauren no longer sells networked packages.

All the talk about wearable devices and fashions has become very, very quiet.

"The overlap between the two areas is not as big as people think," said ScottGalloway, a professor of marketing and a L2 at the Stern School of business, New York University.

Technology is essentially creating utility and affecting billions of people.

Fashion is to create a moment, a trend, a romance, and spread it to a small number of influential people.

Of course, this does not mean that wearable devices themselves are outdated.

According to research group International DataCorporation, the smart watch industry accounts for 44% of the market in the wearable device market. Overall, the industry is doing well.

IDC predicts that smart watches will be one of the main drivers of market growth of 15.3% this year.

A new report by NPD said that the sales of smart watches in the United States increased by 54% in 2018.

Cook said in January this year Apple's first quarter earnings conference call in 2019 showed that its wearable device category increased by 50% (mainly watches and AirPod).

A spokesman for Hermes said AppleWatch is one of its most popular models.

Louis Vuitton's smart watches account for half of its watch business.

However, although there were rumors long ago that other designers would join the team, and the third parties such as Coach and Kate Spade had already made wristbands for AppleWatch, the topic these days is about how smart watches can become a platform for health and fitness. This is also the reason why fitness brands, especially Nike, are still enthusiastic.

This does not mean that fashion itself is not interested in technology.

When I talked about augmented reality as a shopping tool, executives were very excited about it.

In terms of material science and production, technology is very promising, especially when the industry is paying more and more attention to sustainability.

AmandaParkes, chief Innovation Officer of Future Tech Lab, said: "the current situation is that it has spread to the back end of nanotechnology and fabric production.

But it takes time to develop, just like biotechnology. "

At the same time, some brands are playing the edge ball.

JimmyChoo recently released a heated lace City hiking boots.

It is heated through the battery of the heel, then connected to the mobile phone application, so that you can control and monitor the temperature.

RalphLauren designs a jacket that can be heated Polo 11 and Olympic cotton jacket (they are also controlled by application).

Vuitton has launched a wireless headset made of Master &Dynamic technology and is testing a networked trunk.

Since the autumn of 2017, Levi 's has been selling its Commuter xJacquard jacket through Google Internet.

But in fact, all these new products can only wait for cooling after a wave of craze.

SandraChoi, the creative director of Jimmy Choo, said: "networking boots are very interesting and very popular."

However, in the recent fashion week in Milan, it did not appear in the company's display because it was not considered to be the core of JimmyChoo identity, nor even the future direction.

Paul Dillinger, director of global product innovation at Levi 's, also expressed the same meaning. He pointed out that the Internet jacket is classified as CommuterCollection of Levi's s, a fairly niche business area.

When the next season is released, the company will choose to offer the same products and launch new applications instead of new styles or new products.

Dillinger said: "we focus more on creativity in fashion design than on physical objects."

Galloway made a brief summary of these phenomena: "only one wearable device belongs to the real fashion declaration, that is, your mobile phone."

This may be the root cause of the problem.

All of this shows that we have gone beyond the fashion technology product design agreement.

We are now like Platon acquaintances, and we have been stirring up every once in a while.

So what have we learned from the past five years?

Perhaps the real future of fashion and technology has nothing to do with the screen.

Perhaps the concept of "hero product" is so closely related to the world of science and technology that it is not really effective in industries that already possess heroic products.

In fact, Dillinger said he initially had a rather skeptical view of Jacquard.

"I only value practical fashion items," he said.

Maybe this is the extent to which we hope clothes or accessories should be achieved. As long as we feel good, we can become a tool of self-expression and a symbol of group members.

This is also the experience of mobile phones.

Although no one will foresee its arrival, AirPod and Vuitton headphones are becoming a status symbol.

According to IDC, by 2023, "ear wear equipment" will become the second largest category of wearable devices, occupying 31% of the market share.

By comparison, it predicts that smart clothing accounts for only about 3%.