Within the last two weeks, now former Saint Laurent Paris’ Europe President and Retail Head, Catherine Monier, made the decision to join Apple. Former Saint Laurent CEO Paul Deneve has been with Apple for about a year now, and other fashion industry executives such as former Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts, former Tag executive Patrick Pruniaux, and Musa Tariq, who worked in social media at Nike and Burberry, have also recently joined Apple’s team.

So why is Apple seeking powerful fashion industry executives to join their team? Sources report that Paul Deneve’s team at Apple is working on developing strategies for Apple retail stores to begin marketing and selling wearable goods. This Fall, Apple plans to launch a “fashion and fitness wearable band…and Apple will need all the expertise in selling fashion goods that it can get its hands on prior to the launch,” reports 9to5Mac.com

The acquisition of these new fashion experts creates a new, interesting team that will undoubtedly be able to use their fashion savvy to package and market this upcoming fitness, health oriented technology.

Apple has yet to confirm that they are indeed producing a “smart watch” or “fitness band” of any kind, although the writing is on the wall. According to  BusinessSpectator.com, in addition to, “poaching fashion executives,” Apple has sent out patent and trademark applications for an “iWatch” and put out new job advertisements pertaining to the supposed upcoming product. Furthermore, just last month The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple had multiple devices in the works, and that they would be utilizing upwards of 10 sensors to track and monitor health and fitness data. (See an artist's interpretation of what the device would look like below- source: BusinessSpectator.com)

This is the second fashion and technology collaboration we have seen in the past year: First, with Google Glass, which fashion icon and industry leading designer, Diane von Furstenberg, chose to exhibit in her collection, and features 5 frames and 8 shades of the glass. According to Google, “technology is your best accessory,” so get ready for wearable devices to take the fashion world by storm.