Technology News

Ralph Lauren To Debut Workout-Enhancing ‘PoloTech’ Shirt

Depending on how you look at it, the world of fitness apparel just got a lot more complex or a lot more cool.

This past Friday The Drum reported that, next week, fashion designer Ralph Lauren will launch a series of sport shirts incorporated with a  system of sensors that can read a variety of biometric factors.

Lauren has named the line of smart shirts “PoloTech,” working with a Montreal-based company named OmSignal to perfect shirt’s ability read and transmit information about a person’s workout.

Silver fibers are intertwined with the shirt’s fabric, which are used to read information about the body and send it back to a black box sewn into the side of the shirt. The black box collects the data and calculates various workout factors based on certain algorithms. The resulting data is sent to an app on the user’s smartphone.

The Ralph Lauren workout app has been compared to a similar app and workout system used by Apple for its Apple Watch. The Lauren workout platform, however, “will offer real-time workout suggestions.”

Ralph Lauren’s mobile app is attempting to do something different from the Apple’s smartwatch, it will offer real-time analysis and workout suggestions based on the biometrics the person is showing at the time.

According to an article in The Guardian‘s Liberty Voice section, the shirt has been in the works for the more than year. Ralph Lauren tested the shirts at the 2014 U.S. Open, where ballboys demoed the workout device.

The company also convinced collegiate tennis player Marcos Giron to wear the shirt during his practices in order to “make real-time adjustments to his play.”

The company had Marcos Giron … wear the PoloTech shirt during his practices to … make real-time adjustments to his play, breathing and form in preparation for playing in his first Grand Slam tennis tournament.

The shirt is scheduled to debut on Thursday and will cost $295.

Click to comment
To Top

Hi - Get Important Content Like This Delivered Directly To You

Get important content and more delivered to you once or twice a week.

We don't want an impostor using your email address so please look for an email from us and click the link to confirm your email address.