Sydney-based Wearable Experiments recently introduced their newest wearable technology, the Football Fan Shirt. This sensor-filled jersey hopes to help bring fans closer to the game by allowing them to feel the same emotional sensations players experience during a game, in real-time.
The Football Fan Shirt uses haptic technology, which recreates the sense of touch to allow fans to feel what the players are feeling. Wearable Experiments wants to create a greater connection between fans and their favorite team, by giving them the power to experience this new “fourth dimension of entertainment.”
Their Bluetooth connected app will let users select the team they want to connect with. Users then can experience sensations similar to what players experience during a game. Real-time data is collected to send alerts to the shirt’s sensors, which then send vibrations across the user’s skin. A litany of the most vital game action can be mimicked for the wearer, including: shots on goal, goal celebrations, red cards, free kicks, and much more.
The “choreographed haptic feedback” will be sent to the wearer’s chest along the collarbone. The shirts will also be able to help fans connect with each other. Wearable Experiments hopes to enhance the fan experience by “blurring the lines between player and spectator.”
Their new Football Fan Shirt was introduced amidst the group stage of the European Championships. However, these shirts do not have a price tag and are not currently available for purchase.
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We covered Wearable Experiments in January, when they partnered to create form enhancing yoga tights. The Australian company also created a similar piece of wearable technology for the American football fan, when they introduced their Fan Jersey before Super Bowl 50.
Soccer fans might enjoy the vibrations being sent to their chest when their team scores a late winner. But in its infancy, it is difficult to see the Football Fan Shirt having widespread appeal.
Diehard soccer fans already live and breathe every emotion throughout a game, sometimes even more dramatically than the players. It might be a stretch to think these same fans would need an app to send vibrations to their shirt in order to experience the gamut of emotions that occur over the course of a game.
Wearable Experiments’ vibrating shirt is novel, but it could be some time before their concept truly revolutionizes the fan experience.