Digiseq teams with Dutch wearable fashion brand Astari

DIGISEQ, the wearable payments tech pioneer, has today announced its partnership with ASTARI, the Dutch wearable tech fashion brand, to bring large scale wearable payment technology and more to ASTARI’s customers.

With a market value of $171.38bn expected by 2032 and a projected growth of more than $150 billion over the next 10 years, DIGISEQ’s partnership with ASTARI comes at an exciting time for customers as wearables break into the mainstream market.

Combining ASTARI’s practical and sustainable products, which are produced using vegan apple leather from the surplus of apple peels left over from the production of apple juice, with the ability to pay for goods with speed and security thanks to DIGISEQ, this partnership is set to create a unique wearable product offering that marries fashion, fintech and functionality.

ASTARI’s DIGISEQ-powered wearables can be used as a payment device or as a digital business card – all thanks to DIGISEQ’s mobile provisioning platform, RCOS™. RCOS™ enables real-time payment data to be provisioned to a wearable item over-the-air, providing customers with multiple services and the freedom to choose how to pay. ASTARI wearables are available for any Android and iOS device by downloading DIGISEQ’s Manage MiiTM mobile app, which can instantly deliver Mastercard payment data via secure tokenisation to the ASTARI wearable.

DIGISEQ’s ability to securely ensure the provision of payment data over-the-air to ASTARI’s customers’ iPhone or Android mobile devices means that ASTARI users can activate their wearable item in the comfort of their home, without needing to wait for their bank or issuer to do it on their behalf.

Revolutionising wearable payments, DIGISEQ’s ground-breaking Manage Mii™ mobile app not only allows consumers to register and activate their own item using their payment card, but it can also be white labelled with the branding of its clients; effectively making it an invisible payments partner.

Jelle te Kampe at ASTARI, comments: “We’re delighted to be partnering with DIGISEQ and we’re confident that they share our vision that consumers should be given the complete freedom to choose how they want to pay. DIGISEQ’s ability to securely provision payment data over-the-air to ASTARI’s customers’ iPhone or Android mobile devices is a huge benefit for us – enabling our users to simply purchase a ASTARI wearable of their choice and activate it at their own convenience. Together, we will continue to challenge the standard of wearable technology through beautifully designed products that are simple and easy to use.”

Angela Davies, Head of Partnerships at DIGISEQ, added: “We’re thrilled to share the benefits of our mobile personalisation solution (RCOS™) with ASTARI, enabling payment data to be delivered to their spectacular range of unique and sustainable wearables. With our technology already being used to great effect by globally recognised names including the world-renowned Roland-Garros tennis tournament, designer Philippe Starck and Curve, the past 12 months have been an incredibly exciting time for DIGISEQ – and this partnership with Astari is the next step in our future.”

DIGISEQ’s mobile personalisation and tokenisation ensures all provisioned payment data is fully protected, with contactless transactions secured in the same way as card or phone NFC payments.

Together we are empowering banks and issuers to generate more transactions, boost revenue streams, and provide invaluable opportunities to strengthen customer loyalty through targeted marketing insights and real-time transaction tracking, DIGISEQ’s world-first solution affords ASTARI’s customers the freedom and flexibility to choose how they want to pay.

By promoting use of wearable tech, brands, banks, and issuers can also reduce their reliance on producing plastic cards, as DIGISEQ handles the over-the-air personalisation and payment enablement of the wearable item from end to end, saving banks and distributors vast amounts of time and money. Additionally, this also helps to significantly reduce the amount of plastic used for cards, improving environmental and sustainability efforts together with ASTARI’s wearables.