Burberry Has A Special Group Dedicated To Wearable Technology As Fashion Goes Futuristic

Most companies in the U.S. have a division dedicated to forecasting trends and how they might impact their businesses. Burberry likes to call its innovation group: the "What If Group."

According to Fashionista, Burberry CEO, Christopher Bailey mentions that the company has set up the group to think about the intersection of fashion and technology, tackling questions like: "What happens if you put technology into fibers? And: What happens if you put chips into an accessory?"

In 2012, Burberry did indeed attach RFID chips to its accessories. When shoppers at Burberry's flagship in London approached one of the screens in a fitting room, specific content like information about the materials used in a bag, or a video showing how a skirt was worn on the runway would appear. Super cool!

According to CNN, fashion and technology are coming together like never before. "Innovation is hugely important for brands to showcase," said Matthew Drinkwater, head of the fashion innovation agency at London College of Fashion. "There's recognition that the technology industry needs to engage with fashion lifestyle. All physical stores, not just premium brands, need to create a full experience for customers."

Burberry has fully embraced fashion technology. It has integrated the physical and digital in its flagship stores in London, Hong Kong and Chicago. There are about 100 screens and 500 speakers. Like Apple stores, there are no cash tills and you pay on devices. Intelligent mirrors become screens showcasing catwalk images, and show the outfit you're trying on as if you were the star of a catwalk show.

Now, Bailey suggests the company may be taking a closer look at the hardware used in wearable devices like the Intel x Opening Ceremony bracelet, or Ralph Lauren's "biometric" fabrics.

Fashion technology may even reach the extent of "smart fabrics," or clothes that can be embedded with sensors and microprocessors that can communicate with mobile phones to process information such as the wearers' heart rate or temperature. As for a date when that can be expected? We will have to wait and see.