Japan develops 'smart' shirt to improve health, fitness

Two Japanese firms have developed an intelligent undershirt that can be connected to a smartphone and provide data on the health of the person wearing it, the media reported on Monday.

The shirt has an ultra-fine and flexible sensor (which can be removed before the shirt is washed) that can monitor posture, heart rate, and calories consumed and burned, spokesperson of the tech firm NEC, which has developed the shirt in collaboration with Gunze Ltd., told EFE news.

Data is collected through the electrically conductive fiber of the shirt and is wirelessly transmitted to a smartphone, where the user can view the information using a specific app.

The idea is for the app to provide, based on the information collected, suggestions on improving health or workout performance to the users.

Gunze is scheduled to launch the "smart" shirt, which still does not have a definitive commercial name, this year at its gymnasiums in western Japan and is also contemplating the possibility of renting them out on a monthly basis to their clients in the gyms, the spokesperson added.