Friday, May 1, 2015

Gear : Shirts : OMsignal Biometric T-Shirts

Gear : Shirts : OMsignal Biometric T-Shirts

Smart wearables are here, and they’re huge. But most of them just hang on your wrist and count your steps.

That’s about to change, as your clothing gets smart — and starts talking.

Montréal-based OMsignal is launching today with four smart bio-sensing T-shirts that track your heart rate, breathing volume, breathing rate, movement (yes, including steps, but not limited to that), the intensity of your movement, and the number of calories you’ve burned. All tested by the best athletes in the world, according to CEO Stephane Marceau.

“We spent time training with Olympians wearing our shirts,” he told me last week with a grin. “They’re on our fitness advisory board, and they kick our ass at the gym.”

OMsignal has been in private beta since October of last year, when Marceau told me about the company’s vision to help people become not only more fit but also more well. Physical as well as emotional, in other words.

Today for the first time, the fruit of their labor is available for purchase.

Instead of launching with just one shirt, Marceau chose to launch with four: an undershirt, a sleeveless shirt, a casual T-shirt, and a long-sleeved shirt. All can be either worn at the gym, under everyday clothing, or alone. They’re all made at a manufacturer that also makes NFL uniforms and UFC fighters’ gear, and include sensors to measure your movement and your intensity.”

“We use a silver-based thread, integrated into the shirt, that reads your heartbeat,” Marceau says. “It reads the electrical current, brings it to our little black box, then sends it via Bluetooth to your phone."

That little box, about the size of a credit card, reads all the data and includes a little Bluetooth radio. It slips in and out of each shirt, so you can change your shirt but continue monitoring and recording. It also includes a magnetometer, gyrometer, and accelerometer that records your movements and steps. You read all the data, and get alerts and suggestions, via the companion smartphone app.

The company is currently focused on fitness fanatics.

“The interest we’ve gotten has been from quantified selfers, people with medical situations, and people who want to connect with themselves,” Marceau told me. “But the market that is most ready and hungry for this is the performance market … the weekend warriors. They don’t need to be super-athletes, but they care about fitness.”

Purchase here.



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Sources : OMsignal Biometric T-Shirts Photo | OMsignal Biometric T-Shirts Article

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