Fashion and Technology: Implications for the Social Acceptability of a Wearable Device

Where would you expect to find a smartwatch? Near fitness equipment, in a mobile phone store, or at a fashion accessory counter? The question of to which standards a wearable device should be held is an important one, impacting marketing, development, and research on wearable devices. This paper is an investigation of the relationship of aesthetics considerations, such as fashion, to the social acceptability of wearable devices, items often marketed as fashionable. By following the journey of the aesthetics items used by Kelly (2016) in the creation of the WEAR Scale, it is made clear that social acceptability and fashion are indeed separate constructs.