If you’re tired of blocky, mechanical smartwatches or dull-looking digital accessories, you’d definitely want to hear this piece of news – Huawei has announced Fashion Forward, a new vision for their wearable products, taking their upcoming launches in a style-focused direction. According to the brand’s spokesperson, Fashion Forward “is about taking the integration of technology and fashion to the next level, empowering users to personalise their health and sports journey without compromising style.”
For years, we’ve seen an emerging market in between fashion and technology. Most fashion or tech brands seem to have focused on AR (Augmented Reality) technologies, while the remainder are products that either lean towards “Fashion” aspect or the “Technology” aspect, not having truly given consumers an equal best of both worlds.
Huawei’s new Fashion Forward manifesto signals that the brand is now taking on these gaps in the market, weaving in fashion and design into its R&D process that has already achieved breakthroughs in Health and Fitness wearable technology. Continuing with the latest HUAWEI WATCH GT 4, here’s how the brand is planning to turn its technologies into wearable art.
Evolving with the times: Fusing trendy design with timeless craftmanship
Perhaps the biggest decision dividing the consumer market now is the inability to choose between a smartwatch and a timeless analogue timepiece. While these markets have remained separate for some time, it seems that the future still favours smartwatches – with the bulk of Gen Z consumers preferring smartwatches over luxury watches or even prefer wearing both analogue and smartwatches. Huawei addresses this existing dilemma in the market to blend haute couture inspired aesthetic design with cutting-edge technology, aiming to enhance user-centric experience through purposeful design.
This is already evident with the latest HUAWEI WATCH GT 4, the 46mm edition in Octagon reminds us of classic octagonal designs adopted by iconic watches like the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak collection. On the other hand, the 41mm’s Pendant design is fashioned to resemble jewellery, giving the smartwatch a more elegant look, giving you the confidence to take it out with you to formal galas or even to a casual night out with your friends.
Investment in purposeful, research-backed design
The road taken towards Huawei’s new Fashion Forward strategy didn’t happen overnight and in fact began years ago. In 2015, Huawei launched the first Aesthetics Research Centre in Paris, with subsequent centres opening in major fashion capitals, Milan and London. These initiatives were set up as part of Huawei’s endeavour to understand the style-conscious consumer’s evolving interests and concerns.
These risks taken have certainly borne fruit, with Huawei having launched groundbreaking designs in their watches throughout the years. The release of the HUAWEI WATCH GT 2 saw the debut of the industry’s first ever integrated 3D curved glass surface, providing a touch experience without boundaries that embodies mainstream simplicity and refined fashion awareness.
As part of its initiative to advance its product designs, Huawei also took steps in ensuring developments in material design. It wasn’t too long ago when the brand launched the award-winning professional diving watch HUAWEI WATCH Ultimate, which featured the industry’s first ever zirconium-based liquid metal. The HUAWEI WATCH GT 4 also benefits from Huawei’s long years of research in material design, introducing refined calf leather and Fluoroelastomer watch straps that are durable and versatile enough for a range of activities.
Ensuring human-centric design through equal commitment to health and fitness features
Fashion is nothing without substance. Huawei has made clear that its quest for fashion will not exclude its ongoing progress with its health and fitness technology innovations. The Fashion Forward mission itself includes Health and Sports focuses, perhaps as a way of expressing that looking good is an experience that involves wellness from the inside out. To fully achieve its vision, Huawei has declared partnerships with over 100 professional institutions worldwide to carry out more than 200 collaborations.
The HUAWEI WATCH GT 4, for instance, is more than just its aesthetic exterior. It introduces new features like the upgraded HUAWEI TruSeenTM 5.5+, which improves heart monitoring reading stability by 30 percent thanks to better intelligent algorithms. With round-the-clock readings, the improved heart monitoring feature also enhances other health and fitness features such as its StayFit caloric management app, Sleep management, and Menstrual Health management 3.0, providing users with a more holistic assessment of the user’s overall health.
What Fashion Forward means for the Future of Huawei
Although Huawei’s Fashion Forward manifesto announcement is recent news, the brand’s evolution in fashion have already been widely recognised in the past few years. Huawei received the EISA award for four consecutive years for its wearables with the most recent being awarded to the HUAWEI WATCH Ultimate, which was named the EISA Premium Smartwatch of 2023. This year, Huawei’s smart wearable products also won the 2023 iF Design Award. So, if Huawei has already been making advancements in the realm of fashion technology, could this recent shift in strategy mean even more for consumers? While we’re yet to see what’s on the cards for Huawei’s future products, we can definitely look forward to a more exciting smartwatch market in the near future.
Take your fashion and lifestyle forward by pre-ordering the HUAWEI WATCH GT4, preorder the HUAWEI WATCH GT 4 from the HUAWEI online store today and experience a smartwatch that combines fashion, innovation, and functionality like never before.
From 27th September to 5th October, 2023, you can pre-order the smartwatch for just R6 999. You’ll also receive promotional gifts valued at R1 500. Terms and Conditions apply.
