Royole Corporation partnered with sports clothing manufacturer Tūta, to produce the first fully flexible and wearable display advertising in live sports.

In the return to live basketball, all referees during the official FIBA (International Basketball Federation) Hoptrans 3x3 tournament running through July will be wearing a Royole fully flexible display.

The first part of hoptran3x3 tournament was live on July 3 in Lithuania, four referees were wearing the fully flexible display on their T-shirts, showing logos of the sponsors for the tournament.

With an audience of more than 50 million watching the game live or through FIBA Livestream, this marked the first time that flexible and wearable displays were used in live sports for advertisement.

The fully flexible display is extremely thin and light at only 85g and 7.8 inches, making it unnoticeable for the referees wearing them, while the content on the flexible displays can be operated by an app and the images or videos can be changed throughout if needed.

“We looked to partner with Royole for this because we wanted the best flexible displays on the market. The partnership has been growing over a number of years and we’ve seen the flexible displays perform incredibly well being implemented with what the referees are wearing," said Valentinas Navikauskas, CEO of Tūta. "The fact that they can use this revolutionary technology and place it into the referee’s shirt whilst keeping it lightweight and cool to wear shows the significance of using a flexible display and proves they are the leader in their industry.”

“This is an important moment not just for flexible technology but also for advertising in live sports," added Dr. Bill Liu, chairman and CEO of Royole. "The future of advertising is now wearable and with a return to live sports after such a long absence, this partnership represents a significant vision into what the future will hold. Our ultra-thin, fully flexible displays are robust and efficient, making them perfectly fit for wearable products.”