Fossil Group has agreed to acquire Misfit in a multi-million dollar deal.
Fossil group are known for making clothing and fashion accessory ranges, including watches. Misfit are a new company known for their wearable the Shine 2. The 4-year-old company also created smart home devices, such as smart energy saving bulbs. Misfit had previously collaborated with Swarovski and Speedo, but could not compete with other activity monitor makers like Fitbit and Nike. A collaboration with Fossil can open up the possibility of making more fashionable wearables.
Fossil Group are buying Misfit for $260 million, not surprisingly Fossil plan to incorporate Misfit’s activity tracker technology in “traditional timepieces and fashionable connected accessories”
Co-founder and CEO of Misfit Sonny Vu will become the new president and and CTO of Fossil Group. Vu said in a statement:
“If you don’t have a brand it is hard to be legit in this space. “We are thrilled to join forces with Fossil Group to usher in the next era of wearables where elegance, beauty and long-lasting wearability are paramount.
“Together, we will introduce products that blend Misfit’s seamless, intuitive technology and user experience with the design, style and branding that is the hallmark of Fossil Group.”
Misfit will continue to develop activity trackers under the Misfit brand, as Fossil Group works Misfit’s technology into Fossil and 16 other brands within the Fossil Group portfolio by 2016. For consumers we will be seeing more fashion based wearables from this acquisition, instead of the usual tech heavy wearables we have seen this year. Expect high prices and elegance next year as Fossil aim to introduce smart traditional watches by next year.
For more on wearables, visit What Mobile’s dedicated wearables page.
Via Pocket Lint.