Visa brings wearable payments to London Fashion Week

Visa Logo on top of map of Europe

First, we had Barlcaycard and Lyle & Scott working together to create the contactless jacket, and now the trend of wearable tech is gaining more traction with Visa and British designer Henry Holland  collaborating at London Fashion Week.

At Holland’s show, ten VIPs were given custom rings designed by him that featured integrated contactless technology. These rings, preloaded with £500, could be used to buy the pieces worn on the catwalk.

The clothes had special payment receiver tags in the shape of a large blue leaf, which were linked through Bluetooth Smart technology to a virtual terminal and Visa’s payment network.

To purchase an item of clothing, the user had to hold the ring close to the tag and the details of the transaction would be sent backstage where the item was selected and packaged. If the transaction was successful, the leaf would light up.

The idea for the technology was conceived and developed over 100 days at Visa Europe’s innovation lab in Shoreditch.

Steve Perry, founder and co-creator of Visa Europe Collab. “Our goal in this partnership was to also push the boundaries of payments and the retail experience – to produce something beautiful and desirable yet also with a very practical and functional purpose – and try it out in a spectacular setting.”

Holland said he wanted to design a “desirable” piece of  jewellery that happened to have contactless technology in it. He went on to explain that the size of the ring had nothing to do with accommodating NFC technology, “The reason that ring is so big is because I’d design it that way anyway.”

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