When you wander into a clothing store and find yourself confronted with racks upon racks of garments of every size, color and cut, it’s too easy to forget that each piece of clothing did not simply materialize, but had to be made. Each garment had to be stitched and sewn piece by piece, either by hand or, more commonly, by machine.

Decades of technological advances in production, manufacturing and shipping have allowed the fashion industry to become the massive, efficient and well-oiled machine it is today. But aside from the sheer marvels of production technology, “wearable technology” is the phrase that is being used to describe the latest wave of innovation in the fashion world.

When I first heard the expression “wearable technology,” I admittedly assumed that athletic wear companies like Under Armour and Nike had stumbled upon a new way to market their high-performance, wicking technology fabrics to entice consumers into buying new workout gear just in time for the holiday season. I assumed wrong.

In actuality, “wearable technology” is the term that has been coined to describe the recent marriage of technology and fashion. Examples of wearable technology include the soon-to-be public release of Google Glass and the Samsung Galaxy Gear Smartwatch.

Further, last Sunday, Apple confirmed the hiring of Angela Ahrendts, the former CEO of Burberry — the English fashion house that makes those delicious scarves and irresistible trench coats — to become the head of its retail department. Prior to the emergence of wearable technology, Ahrendts and those of her fashion-minded ilk would never have been chosen to fill such a position.

Apple, like Google and Samsung, is rumored to be developing its own wearable technology: the iWatch. Not only will it be interesting to see whether the iWatch ever comes to fruition, but also if Ahrendts will be able to make the watch fashionable and functional — a combination of qualities that Google and Samsung have thus far failed to achieve.

The worlds of fashion and technology are colliding, and the result is nothing short of fodder for a science fiction novel. Glasses you use to communicate with somewhere. A watch that is also a smartphone. What’s next? Wi-Fi-enabling earrings? Belt buckles that have Bluetooth?

While I am all for technology – and I am truly mystified by the break-neck speed at which the world we live in is evolving – I do not want to feel like Inspector Gadget when I accessorize. But perhaps that’s just me.

If the “wearable technology” trend really takes off, we might one day wake up feeling like cyborgs, fully equipped with the latest, cutting-edge technology. We’ll be able to know virtually anything because Internet access will no longer be just at our fingertips. It will be a part of our ensemble.

Of course, the duality of such a vision is that technology will become so ubiquitous that we will become akin to robots and live in a world similar to the one Philip K. Dick imagined in his novel, “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.” Odds are, this trend will not spin that far out of control, but at the risk of sounding like a conspiracy theorist, there is always a possibility.

Either way, I won’t be rushing out any time soon to buy Google Glass, the Samsung Galaxy Gear Smartwatch or even an iWatch if and when it comes into being. I like my watches – and my clothes – classic and low-tech.

Jenna Belmonte is a magazine, newspaper and online journalism graduate student. Her fashion column appears every Monday in Pulp. She can be reached at jmbelmon@syr.edu.

Published on October 21, 2013 at 12:37 am