US – The start-up is selling leather bags equipped with smart buttons for tasks such as ordering an Uber.
The luxury collection of bags, which start at £394 ($500, €445) for a cross-body bag, have in-built smart buttons as well as interior lights. Bee & Kin worked with Swedish company Flic to design the smart system, creating an app that lets customers program their own tasks, such as find their phone, start a playlist or send a pre-written email.
To develop the range, founder Tracey Hummel spoke to nearly 100 women to understand what needs the smart bags could meet, with many women highlighting the difficulties in finding their keys or phone. ‘We wanted to make the technology as flexible as possible, because we realised women have very different needs,’ Hummel told Fast Company. ‘Our goal was to allow women to customise the experience as much as possible.’
Apparel brands are increasingly developing products with intelligent capabilities to find solutions for everyday problems.