What if you didn’t have to compromise your style to compromise your safety?
That’s the idea behind the latest technology from Wisewear—a fitbit and safety tracking device that is disguised as an aesthetically appealing bracelet.
Women often get called out for what they’re wearing when they experience a sexual threat or attack. But what if what you’re wearing can actually save your life?
Wisewear is the most fashionable wearable on the market. It’s design omits a screen like most wearables and it looks like a normal bangle. The primary feature is a distress button that allows the wearer to alert their loved ones of a potential security threat with a sequence of personalized taps. “The problem is, most women, like my wife, carry their smart phone in their purse–she wouldn’t be able to find it in her purse to press the button. You want it on your body and it gives you that peace of mind that your always connected to your loved ones and makes you feel safe,” said Gerald Wilmink.
Gerald “Jerry” Wilmink, the Founder and CEO of Wisewear believes that his new technology can prevent about half of attacks on women occurring on college campuses. “College women have been loving this because 1 in 4 girls have an [unwanted] sexual encounter when they’re on a college campus and this tool allows there to be a bystander present. If a bystander is present 44 per cent of those events won’t occur, so this allows you to activate your friends to show up and quickly diffuse the situation,” said Wilmink.
College women weren’t the original intended wearers of the device. “I didn’t start this business to make jewelry,” said Wilmink. In 2010, Jerry lost his grandfather to dementia after he fell in the middle of the night. This prompted him to invent a new technology, Wiseaid, that has dehydration sensors–among other things–that picks up on vital signals when a senior is about to fall.
“That’s where we got started and where the antennae technology came from. We developed that technology and a colleague of mine from Intel introduced me to a jewelry designer,” said Jerry. His advice was “You could make real jewelry and make it smart.”
From there he found the new face of Wisewear. Interior designer and fashion icon, Iris Apfel, whom was intrigued by the product because her husband was suffering from similar things to Jerry’s grandfather. Now 95-years-old, Iris Apfel began designing the new Socialite Collection for Wisewear, offering about a dozen new versions of the design.
Photos courtesy of Jerry Wilmink
“When Iris and I launched, our real angle here is fusing art and science, I’m a young nerd and she’s a fashion icon, so it was really showing that art and science can merge and make a beautiful product that can keep us safe,” said Wilmink.
“We thought the focus was going to be on the application for seniors but the target market has been for college women and professional women, but seniors have been buying it too,” said Wilmink.
The device requires Bluetooth connectivity to an associated app on the wearer’s smartphone; which was maybe something overlooked in the design with the original target market of the elderly. It’s hard to get my grandma to even purchase a cell phone—let alone a smart phone.
Though unintended, the gadget is appealing to all ages, and because of this, Jerry has had to rethink his design. “We’ve had a lot of good reviews and we have just one size right now. From that we need to expand to do smaller and larger versions, we need to make more petite bracelets,” said Jerry.
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Some styles such as the Kingston are unisex, but the next step is making specifically more men’s and children’s versions. “My children wear them as well. It’s a pretty interesting idea, 1. it provides health and wellness and 2. the safety aspect–so it can be linked to the mother’s phone,” said Wilmink.
Wisewear will be showing at Startup Fashion Week and is now available at Saks Fifth Avenue in New York and online, prices ranging from $295-$345.