Former Black Eyed Peas rapper Will.i.am (a.k.a. William Adams) has been rocking a futuristic look for a while now, boldly incorporating fashion and technology with technicolor plastic hair and jackets that light up Iron Man-style. He may not have always landed on the Best Dressed lists, but no one could say he wasn’t innovative. Yesterday he introduced his latest venture in marrying the worlds of style and technology at Dreamforce 2014 in San Francisco: a smartband collaboration with AT&T called the “i.am.PULS.”
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Right now you’re probably all, “Um, Will.i.am, haven’t we seen a hundred of these smart watches? What’s so great about yours?” to which he’d probably respond, “Um, relax anonymous hater, this is cool and new,” and if you take a closer look, you might actually agree. The smartband looks more like a sleek cuff than a clunky smart watch, and in an interview with Fashionista, Will.i.am mentioned how it was specifically designed with fashion in mind, telling the site, “We’re not coming at this from Silicon Road.”
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The smartband isn’t all his doing, either. His partnership with AT&T extends to an entire wardrobe of technology-supported clothing and accessories, including backpacks with speakers in them, jackets with chargers to juice your phone up on the go, glasses that can snap a pic or two, and shoes with the ability to count your steps, all done in a modern matte black color scheme.
“Let’s erase what a smartphone told us and imagine things you wear,” he explained. “If you wear your functionality, where would you put your camera? On your glasses. Why would you put steps on your wrists? Shouldn’t you put it on your shoes? I don’t think people have actually been thinking about wearables the way we should actually be wearing them.”
A jacket that will save me from having to ask the bartender to plug my phone in for the hundredth time? I’m all for that, TBH.
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If you’re unable to see past his former “Boom Boom Pow” days with Fergie, it’s important to remember that this isn’t Will.i.am’s first tech rodeo. In 2012 he launched a collection of pricey iPhone accessories under i.am.+, and counts himself as a co-founder of Beats Electronics (yes, those Beats). If his i.am.PULS products are as successful as his headphones, start saving up now so you’ll be able to snag the band when it comes out this holiday season.
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