Most Wearable Tech ‘Too Embarrassing To Wear’, Say Brits

Wearable tech manufacturers are being urged to give their devices a fashionable makeover following a study which found many UK consumers would be unwilling to wear any products currently on the market.

A survey by mobile app developer Apadmi found that over a third of people (35 percent) would feel embarrassed or self-conscious if they wore wearable tech as it currently appears.

A similar proportion (34 percent) thought wearable technology made people look like show-offs, with 32 percent claiming it made the wearer look ridiculous. In addition, 17 percent said it makes people look unattractive when they wear it.

Stylish

There were some positive views expressed by those surveyed though – 20 percent said they thought wearable technology makes people look intelligent and/or successful. Meanwhile, 10 percent would feel cool wearing wearable technology, but only 8 percent thought wearable technology makes people look attractive.

“Wearable tech is a fantastic emerging industry with a lot of potential to really catch on with the public, but this won’t happen unless people are proud to be seen wearing a functional piece of tech,” said Howard Simms, co-founder and director at Apadmi.

In order for wearables to be truly desirable then, the obvious solution is to make these devices more aesthetically-pleasing but also it’s just as important to ensure the tech includes useful apps that satisfy a genuine need.”

The survey matches findings discovered by Accenture last year which found that two thirds of Britons were still wary of wearable technology. The research found that only 29 percent of UK adults would be interested in buying a smart watch, and 26 percent would be interested in buying Internet-connected eyeglasses such as Google Glass.

Apadmi also cites YouGov research from last year that found approximately 2.8m people in the UK currently own a wearable technology device, which is likely to increase to 6.1m by September 2015, meaning that adoption of wearable devices will have more than doubled within a year from 6 per cent to 13 per cent of the entire UK population.

Suits you? Try our Wearable Tech quiz!