Fossil Group announced on Thursday that it will double wearable production in 2017, adding 300 new products, which will smartwatches from new brands.
The American fashion designer has several connected watches on display at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2017 in Las Vegas, from a variety of popular fashion brands.
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Armani has launched a collection of “hybrid smartwatches” as part of its Exchange Connected range, Skagen updated its Jorn and Hald smartwatches with thinner aesthetics, and Misfit launched Vayor, the company’s first touchscreen watch with a music player, GPS, and heart-rate monitor.
A big new offering
Fossil has also launched three new Fossil Q smartwatches at CES, the Q Accomplice, Q Modern Pursuit, and the Q Grant. The Q Accomplice runs Android Wear and is Fossil’s slimmest smartwatch. The Q Modern Pursuit and Q Grant are “hybrid” smartwatches that combine tracking tech with analog design.
“Customers crave connectivity that doesn’t compromise style. We’re creating more options to seamlessly integrate desired tech features into our customers’ style and lifestyle,” said Greg McKelvey, chief strategy and digital officer at Fossil. “Fossil design, scale, speed to market and unrivaled portfolio of fashion brands, coupled with our cloud and app platform, and tech and hardware innovation, have pulled us ahead of the wearables pack.”
Fossil wants to be the largest supplier of wrist wearables in the world, and with its long list of third-party brands, it might reach that benchmark by the end of the year.
It hasn’t been an easy road for Fossil’s wearables team. In May, the firm saw its shares plunge more than 30% on poor wearables revenues, as it missed analysts’ forecasts for earnings and lowered its future outlook.
The firm’s wearables revenues saw 7-10% drops across all segments and in all regions in the first quarter of 2016.