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February 22, 2016 Issue

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Smart Clothes Based on Wearable IoT Technology in Upper Garments and Socks that Provide Real-Time Feedback during Exercise

Davide Vigano

CEO & Co-founder

Sensoria Inc.

www.sensoriainc.com

Interview conducted by:

Lynn Fosse, Senior Editor, CEOCFO Magazine, Published – February 22, 2016

CEOCFO: Mr. Vigano, would you tell us the idea behind Sensoria?

Mr. Vigano: The idea behind Sensoria is the fact that we all wake up in the morning, we all take a shower and we all put our clothes on. It would be cool to inject wearable technology that is usually found in bracelets that we wear around the wrist, into whatever we decide to wear that day such as an upper garment, underwear or socks. That is the genesis of the idea.

CEOCFO: What is so hard about putting on a device? Why do we need to make it easier?

Mr. Vigano: We all have our daily treasure hunt for our wallets, our car keys, for our smart phone. There is no appetite for another treasure hunt for another device. Secondly, those devices can only do very little for us. Once I know how many steps I take each day most of these devices end up being in a drawer or something. In comparison, if we actually are able to inject sensing technology into every single garment that we wear. Think about a sports bra with heart rate monitoring capabilities or breathing rate capabilities. If I am going to the gym, that is more interesting to a person that is going to be interested in that type of exercise. Think about what we are doing with our socks where we inject pressure sensors under the plantar area of the foot to detect impact forces, give the user real-time feedback, and potentially help prevent injuries for runners. We can do a lot more meaningful things and provide a lot more actionable information by making the garment the next personal computer if you will.

CEOCFO: Where are you in the process of developing the technology?
Mr. Vigano: You are absolutely right and it is a daunting undertaking but it can be a meaningful one. We spent over four years doing research and development to create textile sensors, which are a fraction of a millimeter thick that can detect pressure. Those are washable and can be injected into any piece of garment. At that point, you have to figure out a way to connect a piece of micro electronics to it and then you have to create the mobile application experience. It is not easy but can be very meaningful. We want the electronics to completely disappear to the human eye and we would like every single piece of garment if people want to, to be turned on and be biometric sensing devices. I think that is what is going to happen. Last year I counted 37 companies that were doing wearable devices and this year there was just one.

CEOCFO: Do you envision some day when it would be standard for all garments to have a device?

Mr. Vigano: Maybe not all garments but definitely lines of garments, and not just garments but footwear as well. We envision a time when ski boots and running or soccer shoes come with embedded electronics to help us improve performance. There will be lines of smart garments that look fantastic and there will be other lines of non-smart garments that still look fantastic but do not detect biometric data for us. People will have a choice.

CEOCFO: What type material will you use for the garments?

Mr. Vigano: They need to be washable. We expect that when technology in fibers are going to be embedded into whatever we wear, that they better be washable. They need to be comfortable on the skin. Otherwise we are not going to wear them. We need to make sure that they are healthy for us so they do not create problems like allergies or reactions when they are in touch with the skin. All this testing has to be conducted. We have done each one of those for each one of the sensors that we actually embed into our clothing whether they are heart rate monitoring sensors or pressure sensors or temperature sensors or humidity sensors. All the sensors need to comply with the things that I just mentioned.

CEOCFO: How would you know if the device has taken some impact and therefore changes the readings?

Mr. Vigano: There are three components of intelligence if you will that connect to the sock. There is the anklet, which is a piece of flexible electronics that connects magnetically to the sock. We do have some intelligence at that level that understands the quality of the signal but we also have the mobile applications so we leverage the mobile phone to understand if there is something wrong. We also have the cloud system, so there are three layers of software that connect to each garment. We are able to understand when the sensor performance degrades. As an example, after sixty wash cycles, the quality of the sensor data in the sock starts to degrade. We can make up for it for some time and then the smart sock becomes a dumb sock. At that point, people will need new and fresh socks, which is normal, and we do that anyway.

CEOCFO: Do you have products available today?

Mr. Vigano: Yes we have products available. I talked about our upper garments; the heart rate monitoring tee-shirts and sports bra are available today. Our smart socks for runners are available today. We bundle them into what we call a running system which allows a runner to actually have multiple garments connected at the same time in real time. They can compare shoes so they can actually see that they are faster with which shoes, how many miles they run with the shoes and maybe it is time to replace them. They also can see the impact forces that they generated with each pair of shoes. Think about actually a quantified shoe shopping experience when as soon as you are done, you understand not just the color and style you like, but also the type of shoes that are best for you.

CEOCFO: Are you manufacturing the products?

Mr. Vigano: We do have contract manufacturers that work closely with us, so they follow our guidance in very specific and disciplined way. They are in North America.

CEOCFO: How is your approach different from some of the other wearable electronics?

Mr. Vigano: Our vision is different. We started with a challenging but potentially meaningful vision, which is that the garment itself should be the next wearable device. We are more of an Internet of Things company that can IoT-enable garments and footwear versus a traditional wearable device company. That is the main difference if you will so if you start from that and just assume that every single garment, and not just a wristband or a smart watch, has the capability to become a computer, then everything comes down from that. That is a big assumption but it is happening today. We are selling products today that provide data gathering, processing, visualization and storage capability so it can be done today.

CEOCFO: What has been the reception?
Mr. Vigano: At the beginning there was quite a bit of skepticism when we started talking about smart socks. People were laughing at us and nobody is laughing today. When runners put their socks on and they get meaningful data that can potentially help prevent injuries, they are actually very appreciative. People in general are in awe with the experience. Of course there is all the work that still needs to be done to make the electronics disappear to the human eye and to make batteries last longer as well as make the weight of the devices much lighter. We will continue to innovate.

CEOCFO: Is pricing a factor?

Mr. Vigano: Yes pricing is a factor. We wish we were able to reduce pricing even below the level where we are right now. A pair of socks is about $24.50 right now. A pair of dumb-running socks is about $18.00 on average. We are not much more expensive than the average pair of socks. The first time you purchase the system you have to buy a piece of electronics very much like a band for your ankle that connects to the socks. Two pairs of socks and an anklet plus the charger sells for $199. We wish we could reduce that price but our cost of manufacturing and cost of goods sold is still higher than we would like.

CEOCFO: What have you learned as people have been using your products?
Mr. Vigano: We are learning that our average customer is usually the ageing runner, the person who has gone through injuries. He or she knows how painful that is and they do not want to go through this experience again. In the US there are over 36 million runners and over 70% of them are injured every year, if they are a distance runner. We are learning that our ability to help improve performance combined with the ability to help runners understand their foot landing technique, get impact data back and compare shoes to select the best shoes. They can also compare and get real-time feedback from what we call the virtual coach so you can listen to your music and get a voice of your coach if you want in real-time, and that can impact behavior. Those are exciting things we are hearing from our customers right now.

CEOCFO: Would you tell us your geographic range?

Mr. Vigano: It is a lot broader than the US. We are selling in Europe right now already. We are looking for the right partnerships to expand our reach to Asia as well. The needs are absolutely the same needs anywhere and everywhere around the world, primarily when it comes to running. If you can start thinking that our technology can be injected thanks to the Sensoria Core, which we have announced at CES, into pretty much any footwear or garment, then the opportunity is much broader as well.

CEOCFO: Would you explain that?
Mr. Vigano: We now have demoed and showcased the piece of micro electronics that is a fraction of the size of the current anklet that we use for the sock. We call it Sensoria Core and that can be injected into almost any piece of garment. It is so small and light that it can be injected into shoes, ski boots, upper garments. It is exciting.

CEOCFO: Is that when they are made or later?

Mr. Vigano: It is when they are made.

CEOCFO: Are manufacturers coming to you now? Is it easy to get an audience?

Mr. Vigano: They are paying attention. We have a great partnership with one of the largest orthotics companies in the world. Their name is Othotics Holding Inc. We have injected our electronics and textiles sensing technology into a medical device for elderly patients as an example, it is called the MBB. It is a device that has been shown to improve balance in elderly patients. Think about actually having an activity monitor into that type of device that can tell the doctor whether the patient is using it but also telling the patient in the future if there is a higher risk of falling due to center of balance shift or use the walker now or sit down now type of alerts. There are so many different opportunities for us. To inject sensing into apparel, sports apparel and even medical devices at this point is fascinating.

CEOCFO: How do you handle the challenge of not chasing every opportunity when there are so many potential good uses for your technology?

Mr. Vigano: The way we approach it is through partnerships. We have a fantastic partnership with RENAULT Sports in Europe, to help them enable their racecar drivers with embedded sensing technology to upper garments, to detect the heart rate and tension levels on the track. We have created what we call the Sensoria Developer Kit to enable our partners to build those scenarios and applications so we have a platform that allows them to inject our textiles sensing technology electronics and build mobile applications on top of that. That is how we are able to engineer quickly multiple garments and different solutions for different solutions for different partners.

CEOCFO: Do you have the funding for your next steps or are you looking for additional partnerships or investment?

Mr. Vigano: We have always looked for additional partnerships and potential investments. What we are trying to do and what we are doing is so broad and big that the more partnerships we have and the deeper we can go the better. We have a model based on partnerships for this company and that is why we released the Sensoria Developer Kit as the primary product. Sensoria Core is in line with what we just discussed.

CEOCFO: Were you sure in the beginning that you could do this?

Mr. Vigano: We were not sure at all. That is what makes things fun, if you already know that you can do something it takes away some of the fun. We absolutely were not sure that we could do this and now we know. We want to get it done and the excitement is building because we know it can be done. We want to be the ones to do it. That is the challenge now, how do we move even faster and build more and more meaningful applications and solutions.

CEOCFO: Why is Sensoria an important company?

Mr. Vigano: Sensoria is an important company because it is one of the few companies out there that is trying to change the paradigm into something that is meaningful and transparent to the user. We would like to take away complexity and provide actionable information and wisdom instead of just data. I think that is something that is interesting and we are delivering on that promise by delivering the first phase of very innovative products. They are different from what you see in the market right now. It is a first generation product and there is a lot more that we need to do so I hope that people will support us in our endeavor.

“Sensoria is an important company because it is one of the few companies out there that is trying to change the paradigm into something that is meaningful and transparent to the user. We would like to take away complexity and provide actionable information and wisdom instead of just data.” - Davide Vigano

Sensoria Inc.

www.sensoriainc.com

Morgan Shepard

321-236-0102

mshepard@uproarpr.com

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