Strategy Analytics Wearables Service brings you daily coverage of the year’s largest consumer electronics convention: CES 2019. Our day 5 blog will focus on niche and novel wearable innovations from the show floor.
Our day 1, day 2, day 3, and day 4 coverage can be accessed as below:
CES 2019: Day 1 - What to Expect in Wearables
CES 2019 : Day 2 - Smartwatches
CES 2019 : Day 3 – Feature Watches
CES 2019 : Day 4 – Smartglasses
Major announcements in unique wearable device types include:
- L’Oréal won a CES Innovation Award for their new wearable skin care patch My Skin Track pH.The single-use adhesive skin patch reads skin pH level via sweat and recommends skin care products tailored to the users specific skin type. Using the right skin care products is crucial in managing chronic skin conditions such as eczema and atopic dermatitis. It is still a prototype and will be tested in the US at select La Roche-Posay dermatologists. While volumes will of course be tiny, we find the use case quite innovative and are starting to see wearbles use cases being considered across new industry verticals.
- Continuing with the health tracking trend started by the Apple Watch’s introduction of ECG and fall detection, the Cronolife Vest and HeartBit Training Shirt were both announced at CES this year.Both wearable clothing products most notably contain a module that measures ECG.We expect these devices to serve both professional athletes and ultra-marathon runners, with volumes remaining niche.
- For the partners of those suffering from snoring, Philips is offering some relief. Instead of nudging you spouse, the SmartSleep snore relief chest band will vibrate gently when the wearer is sleeping on his/her back, the most prominent snoring position, encouraging a change of positions without fully waking them. I’m a bit skeptical of how comfortable it would be to sleep with a vibrating chest strap, and expect more volumes will be driven by the partners than the snorer themselves!
While the wearable clothing market is still in a very early stage, we expect strong potential from the sector a few years down the road. Some 80 billion dumb garments are sold each year, presenting a huge potential addressable market. Converting just 1% of this market to smart garments could yield volumes in the hundreds of millions.
Exhibit 1: L’Oréal My Skin Patch
