Inside The Business of Wearable Tech

Disruptive technologies are all about challenging the lifestyle boundaries that guide us as consumers. These innovations thrust us into the unknown, redefining our daily routines to establish new markets the world never even knew it needed — and no disruptive technology has evolved faster than wearables.

Over the last five years, demand for this fusion of cutting-edge technology, fashion, design and healthcare innovation has completely and utterly exploded. By 2018, analysts reckon the wearable technology market will start bringing in an estimated $8.3 billion per year.

Market pioneers are already reaping the benefits of that growth. Researchers at Gartner are forecasting 274.6 million wearable devices to fly off the shelves in 2016. Yet the sector has rapidly moved beyond your average, run-of-the-mill smartwatch.

Imagine the world where your clothes regulate your body temperature, monitor your vital signs, and your necklace begins to glow when the sun goes down.
Today, this is achievable.
This is the promise of wearable technology, and it’s the reason—after more than 20 years of tinkering by cybernetics enthusiasts—we’re finally seeing an explosion of these devices on the market. It’s the reason Google has poured millions into an improbable set of eyeglasses and why Apple is widely rumored to be exploring something similar. It’s the reason tiny companies banked thousands of preorders last year for smartwatches, gesture-controlled armbands, transmitting rings, notification bracelets, and more. In purely technological terms, the wearable revolution could take shape much faster than the mobile revolution that preceded it.