Another Canadian Startup Introduced Smart Shirt With Built-in Sensor

Hexoskin enter wearable tech with its Hexoskin Smart product. The Canadian startup is at the forefront of smart shirt technology with sensor attached to the shirt and integrated with mobile and web applications.

In the CES 2016, Hexoskin won the Wearable Tech Award. The company launched its Hexoskin Smart just one day before the CES opening on January 6. Currently the shirt also won Crunchwear Editor Award in last week's London Wearable Tech Show 2016.

Busines Insider editor Julie Bort reviewed the Hexoskin and praised the innovation, a comfortable workout shirt with built-in sensor as brilliant. The built-in sensor provide the most comfortable way to measure vital statistics during workout. Compared to other measurement tools such as wrist tracker and conventional heart rate monitor, Hexoskin Smart is accurate and comfortable, especially for long training sessions or vigorous sports activity.

The smart shirt was designed to be compatible with the most popular fitness tracking apps available in the market today. Strava, Runkeeper, Endomondo, MapMyRun, and Runtastic are some of the apps which can seamlessly integrate with Hexoskin Smart using bluetooth embedded in the fabric.

"We are pleased that Hexoskin smart clothing is now compatible with Strava," David Lorsch, VP of Strategy & Business Development at Strava told Indiegogo. "When paired with Strava, Hexoskin Smart will help our users better understand their athletic performance and recovery."

However, the shirt is having a drawback in its Bluetooth connectivity. It also reduced battery life significantly. According to Julie Bort in her Business Insider review, "This shirt's Bluetooth was flaky with my phone. For one workout, it would pair. For the next, after many minutes of trying, it wouldn't. The Bluetooth connection was also a drain on my phone's battery, an iPhone 6s, for long workouts lasting more than three hours."

In order to overcome the downside, the shirt is equipped with power pack that continue to record the workout data. With its power pack, the fitness data can be synced via computer cable.

Another drawback with the product is its ridiculously expensive price. Sold at $400 the shirt is a big investment for jumping into the wearable technology. Compared to its competitior, OmSignal which sells its smart shirt at $150, the Hexoskin's price is relatively much higher.

According to IT World, Om Smart Shirt takes advantage of conductive yarn, fabric-embedded sensors with a compression-fit design. It is also equipped with a smart box that connects to the shirt to generate performance readings that users can view on a mobile app.

Smart shirt has been a new frontier in the wearable tech product. Canadian startup company Hexoskin and its Hexoskin Smart is one of the product available in the market today, along with other brand.