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Fossil Facing New Wearables Competitors, CEO Says

Fossil Group, one of the first traditional watch and fashion accessories suppliers to sign on for the Android Wear platform (see 1501060025), sees technology “emerging as the latest trend in fashion, with the growing interest in wearable technology inspiring new…

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entrants into the watch space,” CEO Kosta Kartsotis said on an earnings call. Fossil’s expected launch of “connected” wearables in time for the holiday selling season “has the potential to energize the accessories category, given the innovation we are bringing to market and the strong consumer interest in the category,” Kartsotis said Tuesday. Fossil’s ambition in wearables has “crystallized” into three different categories. There is the Android Wear “digital screen watch, which looks really good for fall,” and “will get better as it gets smaller and more robust” over the next few years, he said: “That’s got long-term legs as it continues to improve.” Smart bracelets without onboard displays have “the capability of creating an entirely new accessories category based around technology,” Kartsotis said. “Probably most significant long-term is what we call smarter watches, which is just adding chips and additional functionality to existing watches.” Those smarter timepieces will look “just like a regular analog watch,” but will have “a chip in it that gives measures, activity and sleep and also has notifications in it,” he said.