Sony has been secretly working on a project called 'Fashion Entertainments' where it is studying how electronic paper (e-ink) can be used as fabric in fashion products. According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), in just three weeks, Fashion Entertainments had collected round about 3.5 million yen (USD29,437) from more than 150 supporters on the crowdfunding platform, 'Makuake.com', and surpassed its initial goal of 2 million yen (USD17,000).
Fashion Entertainments is currently developing two or more products which include a watch made of electronic paper, an e-ink-based bow tie, hat accessories and paper holders, according to the project page. The watch, named 'FES' Watch, was launched under the name of Fashion Entertainments in September to test the market's interest in 'electronic paper' watches and Sony's involvement in the project was only revealed last week by the WSJ. "We hid Sony’s name because we wanted to test the real value of the product, whether there will be demand for our concept,” said one of the project's coordinators.
The current prototype of the watch is 7.0mm in thickness, has a battery life of 60 days and is 50.6g in weight with a surface material of hard coat PET. The main feature of the device is the ability to change between themes with the tap of a button. It can also be set to dynamically change as it detects arm movement. Colors and designs available on the device include plain white, plain black, an alligator skin pattern, a white brick pattern and 20 more.
Although Sony had not stated an official release date, the watch can be puchased at $167 and is sceheduled to ship to the project's early supporters after May next year.
