Designer brand Kate Spade announced its first line of connected activity-tracking wearables last week. The three-item collection –a jewelry-inspired bangle, smartwatch and silicone tracker – are the product of Kate Spade’s partnership with Fossil Group, which recently announced its primary focus on connected wearables as a way to get back into fighting shape against competitors like Fitbit and Garmin.
According to Women’s Wear Daily, the smartwatch and trackers, which range from $125 to $250, can track a wearer’s activities and sleep with a companion iOS and Android compatible Kate Spade New York app, featuring push notifications, music control and a feature that counts downs to events. What makes them special compared to other trackers is the colors and little touches – black and rose gold for the smartwatch (plus gray, silver and gold tone) stainless steel, rose gold or gold-tone and white mother-of-pearl for the bangle. The silicone tracker is offered in solid, glitter, stripe or dotted, or even a version with tiny cat ears.
The collection still doesn’t have a name, and they aren’t available just yet. The silicone tracker will be out in October, and the hybrid smartwatch and bangle will be ready in November.
Kate Spade isn’t the first designer to jump on the activity-tracker wagon. In the past, Tory Burch has partnered with Fitbit, Apple partnered with Hermes, Ralph Lauren with OMSignal and Swarovski with Misfit. Bella Beat, a startup that makes fashion-forward trackers for women, recently unveiled its redesigned Leaf Urban edition of its Leaf tracker.