????曼哈頓的紐約時裝周和皇后區的美國網球公開賽之間架起了一座“橋”，這里說的可不是橫跨紐約東河的那座，而是可穿戴設備。如今，嵌套可穿戴科技的新式服裝功能性和舒適性兼備，勢將在時尚界占領一席之地。

????舉例來說，美國著名品牌拉爾夫?勞倫就推出了售價295美元的PoloTech系列智能運動衫，其中鑲嵌的傳感器可以收集手機穿戴者的心率、肌肉壓力狀況以及能量消耗，并傳輸至配套應用。類似的還有售價169美元的加拿大品牌Hexoskin運動背心（奧運會和其他一些職業運動隊員都在使用）、以及加拿大智能服裝品牌Athos推出售價298美元的長袖運動衫，特點都是貼身、速干排汗，并可通過與傳感器連接的藍牙實時傳輸體能數據。智能健身服制造商Physiclo采用內置電阻片的智能面料設計了短褲和緊身褲，可以幫助用戶調節并促進熱量燃燒，提升鍛煉效果。

????There’s a bridge between the runways of New York Fashion Week in Manhattan and the U.S. Open in Queens, and it’s not the one spanning the East River. Wearable tech embedded in an emerging breed of clothing designed for functionality and fitness is also poised to make a fashion statement.

????Ralph Lauren’s $295 PoloTech shirt , for example, is outfitted with sensors that transmit data to an app on the wearer’s heart rate, stress levels and energy output. So are Hexoskin’s $169 tank tops (used by Olympians and professional sports teams) andAthos’ long-sleeved $298 shirts that fit snugly, wick sweat, and stream physical data to sensors that connect to a Bluetooth. Then there are Physiclo’s shorts and leggings designed with resistance panels of smart fabric that tone and boost the calorie burn during a workout.

????加拿大蒙特利爾智能服裝制造商OMsignal的聯合創始人兼首席執行官斯蒂芬尼?馬索指出，其他品牌也在涉足這一領域。OMsignal與拉爾夫?勞倫合作推出了PoloTech系列。馬索說，從大品牌流露的濃厚興趣來看，可以預計，智能健身服會迎來大發展。Physiclo首次在眾籌網站上募資就超過了原定目標，共有800多名用戶訂購，等著今年11月新品上市收貨。

????與智能健身服齊頭并進的是熱度漸增的運動休閑潮流，由于奢侈品牌和面料供應商介入，瑜伽長褲和帽衫的品位明顯提升。市場研究公司NPD Group數據顯示，去年運動休閑領域銷售額達到350億美元，約占全美服裝市場總銷量的17%。

????功能勝于形式

????許多觀察者認為，可穿戴技術未來能否真正吸引到用戶，例如那些對蘋果手表不感冒的女性，取決于功能，并非時尚程度。市場推廣公司Clique的聯合創始人兼首席執行官凱瑟琳?珀爾說：“如果市場上的公司能推出的產品能提高日常效率，又或者能巧妙解決某個具體問題，而其他設備都做不到，那我們肯定會蜂擁購買。”她認為，智能服裝制造商不應該僅僅考慮服裝的功能，更應該利用技術提高日常效率，然后再想穿著方式如何能既獨特又安全。

????Physiclo的聯合創始人弗蘭克?姚（音譯）告訴《財富》雜志，這正是Physiclo的目標。他說，即使內置電阻的健身服已經上市了一段時間，該司為開發新型黑色健身短褲和緊身褲仍然花了兩年時間，不斷試錯。開發的難點是制造一種更貼身又穩定的面料。換言之，就是要尋找一種鍛煉時不會隨意拉伸和滑落的面料。這種面料可以提升健身效率，原本要花30分鐘才能達到的目標將只需20分鐘。

????姚還說，Physiclo的終極計劃是在產品中運用促進肌肉表現的技術，提高健身效率。姚一再表示，“我們的產品絕對不想被看成深夜電視購物廣告上推銷的那種”，與此同時他也提到，和另一位聯合創始人、前奧運會選手基斯?斯瑪特都很清楚，提高健身效率的同時收集相關數據的具有重要價值。

????智能化健身服

????NPD Group的科技業分析師本?阿諾德認為，智能健身服有巨大潛力。他注意到，人們健身時對器械的需求并不穩定，腹肌練習器械和健身球就常常被丟在一邊，但衣服總得穿。那為什么不穿智能服裝呢？他認為，上衣、短褲和緊身褲實質上屬于健身器械的一部分，而且是更有可能長期使用。

????阿諾德指出，人們通常對健身追蹤設備先是追捧，然后棄而不用。NPD的研究預計，在過去四年穩步增長后，健身活動追蹤設備的產量到2016年會達到巔峰，達到約3200萬部。他相信，智能健身服“不會受到消費者變化無常的喜好影響。我就總覺得，追蹤健身數據時傳感器應該放在更合適的身體部位，比如腿上。”

????OMsignal的首席執行官馬索認為，健身服的變革勢不可擋。OMsignal目前致力于開發新型文胸，因為文胸緊密貼近人體，可以方便收集非常核心的數據。馬索說：“女性對數據都很感興趣。”他還透露，OMsignal計劃與一些品牌攜手推出專為滑雪和跑步等運動設計的智能健身服。

????馬索堅稱，穿戴傳感器的觀念將很快“進入大眾市場”。他還說，相信大品牌的加入會“迅速推動大眾穿上智能服裝”。（財富中文網）

????譯者：Pessy

????審稿：詹妮

????Other brands are stepping into the space, too, says Stéphane Marceau, CEO of OMsignal. Co-founder of the Montreal-based maker of smart garments that partnered with Ralph Lauren on the PoloTech shirt, Marceau believes that smart athletic apparel is poised to break out, given the interest he’s seen from big brands. Physiclo’s debut campaign on a crowdfunding site exceeded its original goal and has over 800 people signed up to receive the garments as soon as they are shipped in November.

????Smart athletic apparel is lapping at the edge of a growing trend in athleisure where yoga pants and hoodies are elevated by luxury brands and fabrics. According to the NPD Group, a market research firm, sales in the sector reached $35 billion last year, representing about 17% of the entire U.S. clothing market.

????Function over form

????Whether these wearables will catch on — including with women who have generally not warmed to the Apple watch — depends on their utility, rather than fashion, many say. “If a brand is able to produce an item that creates everyday efficiencies or solves a problem in a way that no other device can, we will get on board in droves,” says Katherine Power, cofounder and CEO of Clique, a marketing company. Rather than think about the capabilities of a dress, she posits, smart apparel makers need to start with improving a daily function through technology and then figure out how that technology can be worn in a unique and safe way.

????That’s the goal at Physiclo, co-founder Frank Yao tellsFortune. Developing the sleek, black shorts and leggings took two years of trial and error, he says, even though weighted resistance workout wear has been on the market for a while. The challenge was to create a fabric with better anatomic fixation points. In other words, bands that didn’t stretch and fall down while you exercised. And ones that were capable of compressing the time spent exercising from 30 down to 20 minutes.

????Eventually, says Yao, the company plans to incorporate technology that will stimulate muscles and increase the efficiency of a workout. “We definitely don’t want to be seen as a late night infomercial [product],” Yao maintains, while pointing out that he and cofounder Keeth Smart, a former Olympic athlete, understand the value of collecting workout data while enhancing exercise.

????Smart fitness wear

????Ben Arnold, a technology analyst at the NPD Group, contends that smart fitness wear has lots of potential. While an ab crunching device or exercise ball are often shoved aside, Arnold observes you still have to wear something when you work out, so why not a smart garment? Shirts, shorts, and leggings that are an actual piece of athletic equipment would also be more likely to be used in the long term, too, Arnold says.

????He notes that fitness trackers tend to be embraced, then abandoned. NPD research projects that activity trackers will peak around 32 million in 2016 after logging steady growth for the past four years. Smart wear, he believes, will be “immune to fickle consumers. I always maintained that there are better places on the body like legs,” to track fitness data, he says.

????For Marceau at OMsignal, that evolution is inevitable. Currently, OMsignal is working on developing a bra since it’s an item of clothing fitting closely to a part of the body that could collect core vital signs. “Women are interested in data,” he say, adding Msignal also plans to collaborate with brands on smart wear forsports such as skiing and running.

????This notion of wearing sensors is “going to become mass market” very fast, Marceau insists, adding he believes soon big brands will putting “smart apparel on people’s backs rapidly.”