Sensilk, a Silicon Valley-based company is testing its latest in wearable technology for woman, the Flight Tech Sports Bra. There is a lot of wearable technology available to consumers, but not many that are integrated into the wearer’s clothing, making tracking fitness workouts even easier.
This sports bra looks and feels like a regular bra, providing adequate coverage and support with moisture wicking fabric for added performance.
“The technology is already out there, but it’s not embedded into the garments,” said fashion consultant Ashley Tyler, a designer for Sensilk, which soft launched its smart bra a few weeks ago. “And it’s not soft, it’s not supple, it’s not easy.”
The Sensilk X1 Transmitter and SOAR sensor are integrated into the fabric, and track the user’s heart rate, calories burned, duration, distance, and even days used since last workout. The data is analyzed in real-time for each workout and provides the user a fitness score. The fitness score allows users to track their progress in reaching personal fitness goals, and data and workouts can be shared with others for extra motivation.
“We analyze all this information and give the woman a fitness goal and she or her trainer get to see the progress over time,” Sensilk CEO, Donald Yang told TODAY.com.
The Flight Tech Sports bra is iOS compatible and syncs with your smartphone. The one caveat is that the user must have their smartphone within Bluetooth range for the sensor to track and capture the data, something Sensilk would like to change in the future, but according to Tyler, “there’s just no way around that right now.”
Users may not see that as a problem since most listen to music on their smartphones while working out anyway. The final product will be launched this month, and has a price tag of about $140 which is not so bad when you factor in the price of a Fitbit or Jawbone that provides similar fitness tracking.
However, most women tend to buy more than one to avoid daily laundering, which could get pricey. And while this product is aimed at women, Sensilk is also developing an integrated wearable shirt for men.
Sensilk is not the first to develop integrated wearable technology, but there are still some who are not convinced that this type of wearable technology will explode. Retail analyst, Liz Dunn, asserts that wearables companies are faced with the challenge of monitoring consumer activity unobtrusively, and that this type of wearable technology will fare better if it is integrated with popular apps rather than the monitoring device.
Sensilk is a seamless smart clothing company that develops products in the areas of consumer electronics, sporting goods, health and wellness and wearable.