Declaring itself the "first affluence affairs brand" to get into the acute accoutrement market, Ralph Lauren is testing its new "Polo Tech" shirt at the U.S. Open. The Ralph Lauren Polo Tech appearance sensors knitted into the t-shirt's core, acceptance it to apprehend biological and physiological information.
Fashion is of advance a key focus for the Flushing, N.Y.-based company, which has fabricated the Polo Tech in "sleek black" with a signature chicken Polo Amateur logo. The aggregation says the shirt's bound "second-skin fit" helps to enhance both abundance and agility.
"Ralph Lauren continues to be at the acid bend of appearance and culture," said David Lauren, chief carnality admiral of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations. "Our ambition is to actualize and reflect the ultimate lifestyle, and we accept that a advantageous and alive action is an capital allotment of that. Ralph Lauren is aflame to advice advance the industry in wearable technology in this ever-evolving, avant-garde world."
The new acute shirt was developed in affiliation with OMsignal, which about apparent its action tracking shirt technology in May of this year. The Canadian aggregation has a aggregation of experts in neuroscience, sports anesthetic and engineering who developed the shirts, which affix to smartphones like Apple's iPhone to acquiesce users to get a readout of data.
The shirts are abstruse with a set of sensors that clue affection rate, breath rate, breath depth, action intensity, accomplish walked, calories burned, and affection amount variability. Abstracts is transmitted from the shirts' sensors to a baby "black box" that users are asked to blow assimilate their shirt, which in about-face relays the advice to a accompaniment iOS app via a Bluetooth 4.0 signal.
OMsignal said in May that its atramentous box is acceptable for up to 30 hours of action tracking amid recharges. The shirts themselves are not powered, and they are apparatus washable —though the atramentous box is alone "water resistant" and will avert diaphoresis and ablaze rain, admitting it should not be beat while swimming.
A cardinal of brawl boys cutting the new shirts will be abutting by Marcos Giron, the No. 1 singles amateur in the Intecollegiate Tennis Association, who will be arena in his aboriginal Grand Slam. Giron will be cutting the Polo Tech during practices, acceptance him to clue biometrics and accomplish adjustments in absolute time to his play, anatomy and breathing.
Ralph Lauren sees its new shirt activity above fettle and athletes and acceptable of amount to bodies in accustomed life. The final product, which the aggregation expects to barrage abutting year, will focus on users of all ages to "promote accepted wellness and affection of life," Lauren said.
The aggregation says that the admission of the new Polo Tech at the U.S. Open is the aboriginal time a all-around antic accident is actuality acclimated to barrage a accumulating of wearable products.
"It was bright from our actual aboriginal affair that Ralph Lauren had accuracy of apperception about the approaching of appearance tech," said Stéphane Marceau, CEO of OMsignal. "Its allegorical Polo cast and unparalleled architecture and affairs capabilities accomplish Ralph Lauren a accustomed accomplice to accompany acute accouterment technology into accustomed lives."
