MELBOURNE, Australia
With offices in Seoul and Melbourne, Australian-based Posture360 has declared war on back pain, developing a smart apparel range that will change the way we improve our posture. This comes at a critical time where smartphones, tablets and gadgets have taken over our lives. A back pain sufferer himself, CEO & Founder William Choi has been in the posture business for almost a decade and saw a gap in the market “We’ve sold millions of corrective devices throughout the world and with the advance of technology, I was keen to build a product that combined both. Once we hit on T-Shirts, Posture360 was born.”
Back pain is one of the most common reasons for missing work, our second most common reason for visiting a doctor, and the highest cause of disability worldwide. In Australia, lower back pain is the number one cause of early retirement and income poverty. It is affecting our kids too, with studies showing up to one in four children affected. Our increasingly sedentary lifestyles is a ticking time-bomb, responsible for more than 300,000 deaths and $50 billion in medical spending in the US alone.
A recent study from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2017–18 estimated that 4.0 million Australians (16% of the population) have chronic back problems, while 80% of us will suffer from back pain at some point in our lives.
To combat these growing problems, Posture360 is launching the world’s first functional and comfortable apparel with built in wearable technology. PostureWear connects to a smartphone app so you can improve your posture in real-time. Bells and whistles include haptic feedback and Active Posture Technology, which naturally activates rounded shoulders back into alignment. Michael Simonetti, marketer and engineer who has joined the team as CMO says “It is the simplicity of this tech people will love; you wear it, it works”. PostureWear will retail at around $150 and have been designed for everyday use, worn as a sports or fashion garment, or easily under work attire.
PostureWear is set to play a role in healthcare too. Discussions with physiotherapists and chiropractors have shown a strong interest allowing practitioners track spine data in the critical times between patient visits. Chiropractor and certified postural neurologist of The American Posture Institute Dr. Barry Kluner reiterates the need for everyone to take a more active role “Our posture is now failing faster than the speed of advancing technologies. Bad posture isn’t always your fault. Not doing something about it is”.
Choi is spearheading the global launch, “Australia is the gateway between Asia and North America for health and wellness, and the base where we will drive global growth”. Early investors like Tim Chapman from Henslow based in Melbourne sees the product as groundbreaking “After using the smart shirt myself, my posture improved and really enjoyed using the app. The category as open as it is, the opportunity in front of this company is enormous”.
Already in discussions with global retailers, insurance, and professional athletes, Posture360 is launching an equity crowdfunding campaign and poised to raise up to $1m to launch PostureWear into the market. To buy into the company and be one of the first to get PostureWear on your back, visit https://www.birchal.com/company/posture360
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191028005808/en/
CONTACT
Sara Pardo
media@posture360.com
