Biometric Dunhill

Digital luxury has made yet another forward stride, this time with the launch of Dunhill's biometric wallet, one of the first digital (physical) products to make its way into mainstream luxury and fashion. With the exception of a few and far between examples like the Louis Vuitton Soundwalk and the much discussed but yet-to-be seen digital diary rumoured to be in development by Hermès in 2009, the luxury and fashion segments' recent  romance with digital media hasn't gone much beyond frantic Twitter and Facebook activities and most recently short movies, most of which are yet to reach high quotient rates in their conception, direction and entertainment (but this is another story for another day).

This introduction of a digitaly-powered "real" product drawn from an existing product portfolio and subsequently re-intergrated as part of the product vocabulary of a luxury brand is a first by all standards in luxury fashion.

The product itself doesn't disappoint both tech and design-wise. In addition to being made of carbon-fibre and being "virtually indestructible" (according to Dunhill), the wallet opens only with the touch of the owner's fingerprint. Additional security is provided through the Bluetooth enabler that connects with the owner's mobile phone and sets off an alarm if the wallet and its owner (as well as the mobile phone) are seperated by more than five meters.

What makes this product worth additional attention is its sync with the very fabric of the Dunhill DNA. As a brand that has for a long time positioned itself as avant-garde, emphasized by its long-term association with the James Bond movies, it is only logical that Dunhill should enable its embrace of digital media through tech enhanced products.

Dunhill's boldness has surely been marked and I predict that in the not-so-distant future, the "bandwagon" law by which most luxury and fashion brands unfortunately live by will propel other brands to embark on a journey of digital products. Let's see how this new chapter in digital luxury will play out.