Pay by ring or jacket: Lines blur between fashion, finance

When Marty McFly went into the future, he didn’t see people paying for hoverboards with their accessories in 2015, but that’s the world we live in now. The lines between fashion and finances have blurred as tech companies cash in on the convenience of paying for lunch or buying a dress with your watch, ring, jacket or even pants.

Case in point: I was at a McDonald’s recently with a colleague and he was pleased that the world’s biggest fast-food chain accepts Apple Pay.

“That means I can pay with my watch,” he said, flashing his new Apple Watch.

ApplePay and a host of other payment-ready gadgets and fashion accessories use near field communication, a short-range wireless transmission of payment data between two NFC chip devices held close together.

Apple may be one of the biggest names cashing in on the craze, but it’s not the only company developing futuristic fashion-forward payment options:

• This week, MasterCard debuted at the Money 20/20 conference in Las Vegas partnerships with designer to the stars Adam Selman, General Motors, wearable tech company Nymi, smart jewelry maker Ringly and others to “give consumers the freedom to shop using the device or thing that is most convenient to them.” Capital One is expected to roll out the first of these gee-whiz payment gizmos in 2016 in the U.S.
• Scottish company Lyle & Scott created a jacket with Barclays’ bPay technology in the cuff, Engadget reports. While an Apple Watch could run you anywhere between $349 and $17,000, depending on the model, a “Contactless Jacket” costs 150 pounds (about $230 US). The downside is that you have to wear the jacket or carry it with you to make payments with it.
• Last month at London’s Fashion Week, wearable payment technology lined the catwalks. Items worn by the models at British designer Henry Holland’s Spring 2016 show could be bought by audience members using NFC-enabled rings. Holland partnered with Visa Europe in the fashion show first.
• London startup Kerv, which used Kickstarter to raise funds, says its ring works anywhere contactless payments are accepted. It doesn’t need to be charged or paired with a phone, and it’s waterproof. Oh, and the inner band now comes in seven colors.

But as we get closer to a world in which you can pay for a bar tab with the swish of your skirt or by pointing a mug-laden ring finger, what about worries about fraud? Fashion accessories aren’t widely used for contactless payments yet, but we know about the vulnerabilities of bank cards that use the same technology.

In an October news report, a Londoner said money was stolen from his bank account while he was on a train. He told reporters a thief bumped into him, using a contactless payment reader to steal 20 pounds (about $30.61 US) out of his account. This kind of theft is possible. In July, researchers with the consumer association Which? were able to bypass security measures on contactless bank cards, stealing key details from 10 account holders.

While cardholders can buy covers that claim to block illegal transactions, wrapping aluminum foil around your ring might not send the fashion statement you hoped for.

There have been over a billion contactless payments made in Europe, and contactless payments are growing in the U.S. NFC World reports that there were 185 million contactless payment cards shipped to people in 2014 — a 35 percent increase.

That means by the time we do get the flying cars seen in “Back to the Future Part II,” back in the news this past week, you could be giving the car dealership a down payment with a wave of your hand.