Fast track: using crowd funding via Kickstarter to finance ventures in performance apparel and wearable technology

Using crowd funding, textile technologies and fabric properties -- such as antimicrobial effects, new fibre constructions and performance coatings -- are being brought to a fresh audience, even after they have been promoted by performance apparel fabric manufacturers for some time. The player best known in the crowd funding field is Kickstarter, a USA-based website which has funded 87,103 projects since its foundation in 2009. Many of the leading Kickstarter projects include devices for tracking health activities and sports performance as well as product developments in apparel and footwear. This report provides an introduction to Kickstarter and discusses its key success stories in the field of performance apparel and wearable technology -- namely Bragi, COBI, Flint and Tinder, Ministry of Supply, Pebble, and Tribesports. Bragi has developed a set of smart wireless headphones for the sports and fitness market called the Dash while COBI has created a system for cyclists which combines a bicycle navigation system, fitness interface and weather barometer. Flint and Tinder has developed a premium sweatshirt with a ten-year guarantee and the Ministry of Supply has developed the Apollo dress shirt incorporating the latest textile technologies. Meanwhile, Pebble has created Pebble Time -- a smart watch which incorporates fitness tracking applications -- and Tribesports has developed competitively priced performance sports apparel.

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Four times a year, Performance Apparel Markets provides intelligence, expert analysis and insight on the performance apparel industry. Performance apparel represents one of the fastest growing markets in the global textile and clothing industry--and market growth is being fuelled by an emergence of new fibres, fabrics and innovative materials. The market's growth prospects are also being spurred by increasing demand for performance properties in mainstream fashion.

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