3 Wearable Tech Trends to Watch in the Promotional Products Industry

Fitness Activity Tracker from KTI Networks/KTI Promo

Wearable tech is one of today’s major buzzwords. And, perhaps, rightfully so. According to The Motley Fool, shipments of wearable devices increased 139 percent year-over-year—from 35.5 million in 2014 to 85 million in 2015.

In Tractica’s recent research report, “Wearable Device Market Forecasts,” the company highlighted what we should all keep an eye on over the next few years. The Motley Fool caught up with Aditya Kaul, Tractica’s research director, to delve into specific trends.

Here are three that could prove useful for the promotional products industry:

1. Wearable tech’s popularity and revenue only is increasing. With 85 million wearable tech shipments in 2015, Kaul said to expect them to reach 560 million by 2021. Revenue-wise, the company predicts wearable tech to hit $95.3 billion in 2021. In 2015, it was $12.3 billion
2. Athleisure is huge for the promotional products industry—and will align itself well with the trend toward “smart clothing.” There is a lot of buzz around smart footwear—like shoes that track steps, distance and workouts from big names, like Under Armour—but the smart clothing sector as a whole will grow, too, with an expected 24.7 million smart clothing shipments by 2021. In 2015, those shipments totaled less than 1 million.
3. Fitness trackers are a driving factor of the wearable tech boon, and will continue to be. Suppliers—like Acehigh Tech Corp., Chino, Calif.; KTI Networks/KTI Promo, Houston; Partners for Incentives, Cleveland; and PSL Canada Limited, Richmond, British Columbia—already offer fitness trackers, and the continued growth could lead other promotional product suppliers to enter the game. Overall, fitness tracker shipments are projected to hit 187 million by 2021.

All signs point to wearable tech maintaining its staying power in the industry.

How are you incorporating wearable tech into your product offerings? Are you seeing a growth in its popularity? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!