The Finnish smart fabric company Clothing+ was bought earlier this month by Florida-based Jabil Circuit, an NYSE-traded company (NYSE: JBL) that does electronics prototyping and manufacturing.
Clothing+, which made the sensor fabric in the Victoria’s Secret smart bra, has been in business for 17 years, integrating electronics into textiles. Its first heart monitor shirt was produced in 1998. Management will remain in place, said a statement from Akseli Reho, previously CEO of Clothing+ and now head of the division for Jabil.
Clothing+ had 2014 sales of $11 million and employs about 400 people. Jabil Circuit employs 180,000 people and had 2014 sales of $15.8 billion. Financial filings say its current large-customer list includes Apple, Cisco, Ericsson, GE, HP, Ingenico, and Sony.
Jabil does design and supply chain work in a wide range of industries, from point of sale to networking to aerospace to healthcare. No purchase price was stated, and the purchase was not mentioned in Jabil’s 10-Q, filed earlier this week.