Fossil Group will add touchscreen smartwatches to the collections of even more of its brands in 2018, the company has disclosed, although it has not yet named the brands.
Five of Fossil’s current brand portfolio — Diesel, Emporio Armani, Fossil, Michael Kors and Misfit — already have new touchscreen watches launching in the next few weeks.
Other Fossil Group brands have connected hybrid watches without touchscreens in their product lines. Armani Exchange, Chaps, Emporio Armani, Diesel, DKNY, Fossil, Kate Spade, Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors, Michelle, Misfit, Relic, Skagen and Tory Burch all have hybrids hitting stores ahead of Christmas.
By the end of 2017, Fossil Group will have launched more than 300 connected watch styles across 14 brands. The devices are now also active in 50 countries and 21 languages.
“Today our wearables segment is the fastest-growing part of our business,” says Greg McKelvey, chief strategy and digital officer at Fossil Group.
“Customer demand is strong and getting stronger, and we’re just on the front end of this business evolution. Clearly, this distinct combination of the best design and the best tech is winning with fashion-conscious consumers, especially our female customers who were long neglected by other wearables brands,” he adds.
In the last 12 months, Fossil Group says it has doubled its points of distribution for its connected devices and more than doubled its sales of wearables.
Instead of battling with technology giants that want a chunk of the wearables market, Fossil Group is working with them. Google continues to be a key strategic partner for the company, supporting the expansion of products powered by Android Wear 2.0.
“Our partnership with Fossil Group has been a driving force for the growth of Android Wear’s device portfolio, which has allowed us to offer users choices and diversity,” said David Singleton, vice president of Android engineering at Google. “We are thrilled to continue the partnership into 2018 and implement new ways to connect fashion and technology, leveraging the flexibility of Android Wear and the design capabilities of Fossil Group and its brands.”
