Visa and Henry Holland collaborate on wearable payment tech at London Fashion Week
Wearable payment technology made its London Fashion Week debut this weekend following a collaboration between Visa Europe and British designer Henry Holland, which saw guests able to make immediate purchases from the catwalk.
On Saturday (19 September), front-row guests attending the House of Holland show were able to make a ‘purchase’ directly from the collection as it was being modelled on the catwalk. VIPs were given a Henry Holland-designed ring – created just for the event – featuring integrated NFC technology, which linked up to a number of pieces containing a payment receiver tag. This was then linked via Bluetooth Smart technology to a virtualised terminal and Visa’s payment network.
By holding their ring close to the tag on the item they wanted to purchase, guests were able to make the payment instantly and details of the transaction were immediately relayed backstage, where their item was bagged up and handed to them as they left the show.
The technology is the result of a 100 day-long initiative between Holland and Visa Europe Collab (the payments provider’s Shoreditch-based innovation lab) ,which saw a team of craftspeople, artisans and technology providers work to reassess the boundaries of payments and fashion retail.
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.”