Victoria’s Secret unveils electrode-studded bra that gets you fit

Wearable computing doesn’t have to mean sinister glasses or dorky looking watches - underwear company Victoria’s Secret has entered the market with a very hi-tech bra.

The ‘Incredible’ costs £48, and is studded with electrodes which feed a signal to a clip-on heart-rate monitor (it’s compatible with leading brands such as Garmin and Polar).

Users can then view heart-rate data on paired smartphone apps or PCs.

The bra is fitted with soft elastic band ‘for comfort’, and sweat-resistant fabric - but wearers have to ensure it’s well-fitted so the electrodes make contact.

Most heart-rate monitors rely on either a wrist-mounted light sensor, or an often uncomfortable chest band, so the bra could be a breakthrough device for female fitness fans.

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The sensor material is made by Clothing+, a Finnish firm which made the first-ever heart-rate sensing shirt in 1998, and which remains a world leader in the technology.

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The company produces millions of heart-rate monitors and other sensors, and works with every major brand in the market, so Victoria’s Secret is in good company.

Tech analyst Gartner predicts that we’ll see an increasing number of such hi-tech wearables from clothing brands - where the electronics are woven into the clothes you wear, rather than worn on the wrist.

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Gartner says, ‘Smartshirts and other smartgarments can hold more sensors closer to the skin, they can collect more information and produce better data, like the full wave of the heart beat'.