SALT LAKE CITY — People have been talking about the marriage of fashion and the Internet of Things for years, but 2016 appears to be the year this relationship truly steps out into the light.

2015 was a year of experimentation with the concept, but predictions are leaning more and more towards the commercialization of fashionable wearable tech in the mainstream market. We may not be dressing in light up suits like the characters in "Tron" and we don't have Marty McFly's jacket with expandable and retractable sleeves, but one thing is clear — technology is becoming fashionable.

Jewelry

Wearables are most often traced back to arm bands and watches. This is where people have become comfortable wearing their technology. And why wouldn't they? It's small enough to go unnoticed, but has a large enough impact on your life to alert you of calls and track your daily activity levels. Although makers of fitness trackers and other wearable armbands have done a good job of creating a product that people want to wear, many of these companies have teamed up with major fashion players in order to create a fashion oriented product.

Last year, Fossil acquired Misfit. The watchmaker has recently come out with the Misfit Ray, a sleek and well designed minimalistic wearable that goes with any outfit. The Ray is just the beginning of a great year for Fossil though; it announced the release of more than 100 wearable devices, up from 10 sold in 2015. So far, jewelry has proven itself to be the perfect medium for wearables.

Shoes

Shoe technology is often thought of as the materials used to make shoes lighter, improve the design and correct the way you walk. However, IoT is making its way into the footwear industry as well. Back in 2006, Nike announced its collaboration with Apple to create Nike+. It was a way to track fitness, but required a separate kit in order to track activity and sync music. In 2010, Nike came out with the app to help track activity. As the first strides in technology footwear, Nike did a nice job of setting up today's popular IoT.

Last year, the first foot wearable was announced by Boogio, a Seattle company that makes pressure sensors for your feet. Inserting this pressure sensitive sticker into your shoe allows for full body tracking, which would be revolutionary for fitness tracking but seems to be leaning more towards the gaming industry. Using these pressure sensors would allow a person to take their gaming with them anywhere, especially now with virtual reality becoming more popular. For the sake of fashion, sticking these sensors into your shoe of choice maintains the integrity of your outfit and offers many different uses. It will be exciting to see where this tech takes us this year.

Clothing

The runway is exploding with 3D printed clothing and light embedded materials. The 2016 Met Gala Fashion show in May announced its theme to be "Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology." While fitting for the progression that has been predicted, most of us won't be wearing runway fashion anytime soon. However, the concepts seen on the runway are possibly the concepts that will make up our future closets, especially since major fashion designers have been spotted at the Consumer Electronics Show for the past few years.

IoT fashion trends for 2016 have ranged from completely ridiculous hug sending shirts to potential breakthroughs in both technology and fashion. Levi's has teamed up with Google to create interactive cloth through a partnership they call Project Jacquard. Designers can use the cloth they make like any other material, but the material can interact with existing apps and electronic services. Many of the other breakthroughs are in the fitness industry. Since melding technology and fitness has exploded the last few years, both the Smart Bra by OM and Hexoskin Smart shirt have upcoming technical gear coming out this year.

The future

Will our clothing become so ingrained with technology that one day we need charging closets for our coats and special washers to keep our jeans clean? Will our athletic attire be so ingrained with sensors and lights that we all look like iron man at the gym?

For a few years now, select design schools have offered wearable technology classes to bring together fashion and design. Implementing wearable tech into school curriculums has gone beyond fashion and even entered into the realm of business education. As this industry continues to produce increasing amounts of new technologies for our bodies, it will change the technology industry for future generations.

With the explosion of wearables and access to the internet on all of our devices, it becomes increasingly important to take security precautions when using all of our IoT devices. When we are living in a day and age with smart homes, smart phones and smart clothes, there is almost never a break between our daily lives and our connection to the internet. Take precautions when using your IoT.

Fusing fashion with technology only makes the wearable world more interesting. Where do you think wearables are headed? Let us know in the comment section.

Sarah Brown is a business student with a love of outdoor adventures. Contact her at sarahdeneim@gmail.com.