Nike recently patented a concept for a smart shirt capable of tracking physical properties like heart rate and blood pressure. While smart clothing has been around for a while, this is one of the first from a major player currently in the market with the marketing and R&D power to make a successful, broad-based product.

The shirt could be targeted at a number of different areas in the health and fitness market. For example, the shirt could capture skin temperature and hydration levels that could be sent from a professional athlete at practice or during a match, giving coaches and trainers the ability to fine-tune the athlete’s workout or playing time. In addition to professional sports, the shirt could work as an alternate system for amateurs who prefer to have their wrists free of a fitness tracker or watch. Finally, medical applications abound for rehabilitating patients; currently, bulky, wired vests and other garments are used to measure the exertion of recovering patients on treadmills – this design could make it easier for patients to move and for physicians to monitor them.

It will be interesting to see if Nike re-enters the wearables market during the course of the year. The company dropped its successful Fuelband fitness tracker at the beginning of 2014, saying at the time that it preferred to work on the software side and work with its partners like Apple on other initiatives. In retrospect, and if this is an indication of where the company is going, Nike may have been concerned about the increasing commoditization of the wrist-based fitness tracker market, and may have decided to go in a different direction. On the other hand, it appears as though the company has chosen to complement Apple’s wrist wearable in such a way as to add value without coming into conflict with the electronics giant.