Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “Katherine Hague from Blueprint Talks Wearables”.
This is caleb with make we’re here at makercon today, and we have catherine hague with the blueprint, a pch company. Catherine, if you wouldn’t mind, tell us a little bit about the blueprint and what you guys do. Of course, the blueprint launched a couple months ago and it’s a consumer destination to discover wearables, smart home products, really just all of the coolest in hardware. That’S coming out really from a consumer perspective, that’s approachable and easy to understand and you can actually buy it and it’ll ship to you, okay, okay, so you guys deal with wearables on a daily basis at the blueprint. What are you seeing is like a trend? That’S happening right now in werewolves.
What’S the most common type of wearable well, the most common is definitely something that goes around your wrist. I think there’s about a million fitness trackers that would fit into this category right now, but i think what we’re really noticing is that right now, there’s a wearable for absolutely everything. There’S now wearables for babies and for dogs and uh, every single part of your body and what i’m really excited for uh is really just getting beyond those sort of simple use. Cases into things that add real utility to people’s lives and are more than just gimmicks. But are things that you know passed the leave the house test, you know? Was it something i would go back for if i forgot it and i think we’re still not quite there yet with a lot of the wearables, but i think we’re going to get there and what do you think it’s going to take to push us over that Edge to where wearables become parts of our lives really and more than just toys, i think it’s going to be the entrepreneurs really just getting a lot better educated, we’re still in that first generation of companies that are out there sort of paving the road for the Next guys, but every single person is learning about distribution channels and how to get to consumers and how to make it fashionable, and i think all of those learnings are going to make the next products and the next products even better. You mentioned fashion. Are you seeing more companies that have their background and fashion getting into the technology side of things now that werewolves are becoming more easily produced? I think there’s a lot of companies that maybe the founders don’t necessarily come from fashion, but they are sure to bring on that expertise from a very early stage. So people that have brought on jewelry designers, even before their first product has come out, is definitely a trend that we’re seeing people trying to create these native hybrid companies.
Instead of trying to create a tech company and then evolve it to learn fashion, which is a lot harder and we’re seeing a lot of people try to do that right now, great and uh. Where do you think the next two years, let’s say, is going to lead us in in wearable technology? I really think we’re going to see a lot more people needing to differentiate on their brand or on their software rather than just technology. It’S not just going to be like oh wow, it beeps. That’S amazing! It’S going to have to actually fit into my life and be something that i want to go back to and i think we’re starting to get to that type of demand from consumers. I also think that something interesting that might emerge is this concept of seasons. You see pebble just launched a fresh hot fly, which is three new colors of pebble that are really only for summer, and i think that that’s just showing us how much more like the fashion industry, some of these companies are going to have to become and what, If we had new versions of products coming out, every season like we see in the fashion world and i think that’s going to be cool to watch over the next couple years, nice.
I know they caught my attention with that green one. Now, let’s just finish up with a fun question, a lot of us debate is a phone, a wearable. No, not in my opinion.
I ask a lot of people in our interview. What wearable do you have and everyone answers phone and just sort of makes my like stomach cringe? I think it’s something that’s part of what you wear. It’S part of your identity in the same way, that fashion is, and it’s something that doesn’t leave your body.
It doesn’t get left in your bag, it doesn’t go somewhere else. I think the phone is going to be the hub of a lot of wearables, but i don’t consider it a wearable myself all right. Thank you very much. Thank you. .