The smart clothing market in North America is expected to grow from US$ 491.84 million in 2019 to US$ 2,438.87 million by 2027; it is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 22.5% from 2020 to 2027.
Increase in demand for smart upper wear, such as smart shirts, jackets, and vests, is creating growth opportunities for the North America smart clothing market. A smart shirt can provide biometric data, such as heart rate, respiratory rate, and muscle activity, which are used professionally to optimize performance and workout plans. Data is captured and sent to all the companion apps, providing insights on a variety of sporty metrics, including intensity and recovery, calories burned, and fatigue level, and quality of sleep. Hence, increasing use of smart upper wear in various end-use industries, such as healthcare, military, sports, and defense, is driving the growth of the market in North America. Furthermore, increasing trend of smart clothing in fashion industry is expected to positively influence the smart clothing market in North America.
Based on end user, the healthcare segment led the smart clothing market in North America in 2019. The growing development in sensor technology is enhancing the acceptance of smart clothing technology across the healthcare sector. Several market players are focusing strongly on developing smart clothing products, specifically for healthcare and medical applications. Primary smart clothing applications in the healthcare sector include telemedicine, life belt, and life jackets. All these applications are integrated with sensors for sensing and measuring heart rate, blood pressure, as well as for monitoring toxic gases, and many more. For example, smart shirts are integrated with conductive fiber grid and sensors (ECG) to measure human heart rhythms and respiration. Smart textiles can quickly and efficiently track chronic diseases or conditions, help the aging population, and make hospital patients more comfortable at the time of treatment to increase health insights at reduced costs. All these applications of smart clothing are fueling the growth of the smart clothing market in North America.
The outbreak of COVID-19 has hampered the economic stability in North America. In North America, so far, the US is the worst hit country due to spread of the virus as the number of cases keeps increasing. In order to control the situation, the governments across North America imposed travel bans, factories and businesses shutdowns, and lockdowns which affected the projected revenue generation and growth opportunities in North America. Meanwhile, the rising number of cases of coronavirus continue to negatively impact the production, distribution, and supply chain operations for smart clothing market across North America. Furthermore, the service sector had witnessed significant impact of the global pandemic owing to decline in services along with laying off of employees across different service verticals across distribution channels, such as retailers, suppliers, distributors, and delivery providers. The retailers and brands are facing various short-term challenges regarding health and safety, supply chain, labor force, cash flow, consumer demand, and marketing.
The overall North America smart clothing market size has been derived using both primary and secondary sources. To begin the research process, exhaustive secondary research has been conducted using internal and external sources to obtain qualitative and quantitative information related to the market. The process also serves the purpose of obtaining overview and forecast for the North America smart clothing market with respect to all the segments pertaining to the region. Also, multiple primary interviews have been conducted with industry participants and commentators to validate the data, as well as to gain more analytical insights into the topic. The participants who typically take part in such a process include industry experts, such as VPs, business development managers, market intelligence managers, and national sales managers, along with external consultants, such as valuation experts, research analysts, and key opinion leaders specializing in the North America smart clothing market. Carre Technologies Inc. (Hexoskin); Google LLC; Jabil Inc.; Sensoria Inc.; Siren Care, Inc.; Wearable X; and Under Armour, Inc. are among a few players operating in the North America smart clothing market.