Smart clothes to track fitness and keep baby safe

CNET explores the world of smart clothing

Your wardrobe is about to get smart.

Clothing with smart technology that can track heart rates, breathing rates and calorie counts is hitting stores.

"Right now, [it's] kind of a small industry but expected to grow to more than five million shipping items by 2019," CNET Reviews Editor-in-Chief Lindsey Turrentine told "CBS This Morning."

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The smart offerings Turrentine demonstrated include the $399 Hexoskin smart shirt, which is embedded with sensors that measure heart rate, breathing levels and number of steps taken per minute. It works much like the heart rate monitors that athletes often wear around their chests, but the tech is woven into the fabric.

Another product, the Lifebeam smart hat, which retails for $99, tracks heart rate, calorie consumption and steps. The data shows up on the user's smartphone and sends the information to any fitness apps in use.

Infants can even get in on the trend. The Mimo baby monitor is a turtle-shaped sensor that attaches to a onesie to measure a baby's breathing, body position, sleep activity and skin temperature. The $199 device could be used to protect babies against SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) -- the leading cause of death among infants between one month and one year old -- by alerting parents if their child stops breathing.

Right now, hefty price tags may keep smart clothing from growing beyond a niche market for hardcore athletes. But consumers might not face sticker shock for long. "I think as those sensors get smaller and the battery packs get smaller, it'll get cheaper," Turrentine said.

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