The fashion world is partnering with Silicon Valley companies to design a new generation of stylish wearable devices, which could also create more opportunities for women – like new Apple executive Angela Ahrendts – in the mostly male tech industry.
Ahrendts, the former chief executive officer of Burberry, started work at Apple on May 1 in the newly created position of senior vice president in charge of strategy for retail and online stores. Ahrendts will use her experience selling luxury clothes worldwide to help expand sales of luxury electronics in emerging markets, but she may also use her fashion leadership skills to design a wearable device for the tech giant.
Apple is rumored to be developing a smart watch and has also hired developers of medical sensor technology to potentially help with device designs, according to reports. Health sensors are a popular feature of existing wearables, but while 60 percent of U.S. adults track their weight, diet or exercise routines, only 9 percent follow them using a mobile application or online tool, according to the Pew Research Center .
Apple isn't the only tech company joining forces with the fashion world. To appeal to consumers, Intel is partnering with the Council of Fashion Designers of America, Opening Ceremony and Barneys New York on device designs. Google could make its Google Glass visor more chic through its partnership with Luxottica Group, which owns brands like Ray-Ban, Armani, Oakley and Vogue Eyewear.
Ahrendts will receive a hefty hiring bonus of restrictive stock between June of this year and June 2018, according to a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission. That would be worth close to $70 million at Apple’s current stock price.
Ahrendts is the only woman on Apple’s board, and her hiring comes at a time when companies are trying to bring more women into the tech industry. There is a 7 to 3 ratio of men to women in New York tech offices, according the consulting firm HR&A Advisors, and approximately 74.5 percent of computer jobs in the U.S. are staffed by men, according to Census Bureau data
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