Swarovski, meanwhile, recently joined forces with Misfit, maker of the activity and sleep monitor Shine, to create a range of high-end connected jewellery embedded with technology to measure steps taken, calories burned, distance walked and sleep quality, and self-charging through a solar-powered battery.

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Technology is also a useful tool for fashion designers and brands that wish to make a statement: the recently launched Sponge Suit bikini designed to absorb pollution from the sea is a case in point. Created by New York-based design and architecture studio Eray Carbajo, the bikini is crafted from a sponge-like material – a network of nanocarbons based on sugar and developed by University of California engineering professors Mihri Ozkan and Cengiz Ozkan – that repels water but absorbs oils and other impurities. It shows that tech-luxury can have an ethical impact, but this is not an outfit that many would wear.

Bruno Pieters, the founder and designer of the 100 per cent transparent and sustainable brand Honest By, and Comme des Machines, a so-called future fashion advisory based in Bilbao, Spain, teamed up to launch the Download EP01 collection last June. It consists of nine designs that can be bought and downloaded, then sent to 3D home printers. The Antwerp-based brand founded by Pieters is the first fashion brand to offer a collection of downloadable 3D designs.

“Any brand that isn’t thinking about how technology is used throughout their business is going to be left behind, and that applies to retailers across all markets and product categories,” says Aldenton. “Whether it’s technology in shipping and handling, managing customer data, merchandising on the shop floor or in the product that ends up in consumer’s hands, technology is important to every area of fashion today, so much so it’s even the theme of next year’s Metropolitan Museum Costume Institute exhibition.”

Harnessing technology to develop accessories and clothing dates back to the beginning of industrialisation and has had a huge impact on the evolution of clothing production.

“Fashion and technology are inextricably connected, more so now than ever before,” says Thomas Campbell, general director of New York’s Metropolitan Museum, whose Costume Institute will welcome the exhibition “Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology”, from May 5 to August 14. The exhibit aims to explore the impact of new technologies on fashion designers from the 19th century to today.

“It is therefore timely to examine the roles that the handmade and the machine-made have played in the creative process,” says Campbell.

If the two elements have often been presented as opposites, this exhibition should provide a new viewpoint, placing handmade and machine-made garments on a level footing.

The tech-luxe process has gone even further, as gadgets enter the realm of chic, a key example being the recent Apple Watch Hermès, the number one gift wish for the tech-savvy fashionista.

It’s not hard to see why so many want this item: it combines the leather craftsmanship of French fashion giant Hermès with advanced technology from Apple. It comes in three different wristbands (single or double tour and cuff), three face designs, three numeral displays (12, 4 or 1) and three features (stopwatch, date and global time).

If brands want to join the tech bandwagon, Aldenton says the best route to seek out a technology partner, a company or start-up that has already developed a technology that works well and would be inherently useful to the fashion brand’s customer. The new features need to seamlessly integrate.

“The most important consideration for any luxury brand looking to integrate wearable technology is that the consumer essentially shouldn’t even be aware that they’re wearing something that’s technology enabled,” she says.

LVMH is also positioning itself in the tech-luxury arena. The French luxury group unveiled its first connected watch in November, the Carrera Connected by TAG Heuer, with Android functionality, created in partnership with Intel and Google. The Carrera Connected has already sold out – new arrivals are expected in mid-2016.

For Jean-Claude Biver, president of LVMH’s watch division, luxury and technology are not in confrontation but in partnership. “When ideas are colliding, a growing world of luxury-tech is unavoidable.”