Celebrating Pride with a Splash of Color: The 2024 APPLE WATCH Pride Band Review
June is a month of celebrations, memories, and coming out. A time in which the world stops to gaze upon the magnificent flags flying in the name of those qualified by their sexual orientation, gender identity or sex as ‘lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, transgender, queer, nonbinary, intersex, 2 spirit, genderqueer or questioning, asexual, aromantic, agender, demiboy, demigirl, genderfluid, genderflux, polygender, transmasculine, transfeminine, and all other identities that push the boundaries of gender’ (LGBTQ+). As Pride month unfolds, we are treated to countless rainbow-hued offerings. The latest contribution from Apple is the APPLE WATCH Pride Edition band, in arguably the most technologically savvy and emblematically resonant offering of the season. The 2024 APPLE WATCH Pride Edition band is Apple’s annual tribute to those in the LGBTQ+ community who continue to fight for civil rights, while at the same time acknowledging the tremendous contributions made by LGBTQ+ people throughout history. In my hand, the band shimmers with story and brilliance.
A New Chapter in a Colorful History
A Nod to Past and Present
Apple has released a Pride band – strangely styled, at first in nylon – every year since 2016, beginning with special giveaways for employees and, by 2017, available for all. It couldn’t have been a more perfect match of tech and social advocacy. The big, bright bands are echoed by matching splashes of colour and conscience on the accompanying Pride watch faces. From the plain, bright nylon of the original band to the sinewy Braided Solo Loop of today, Apple has continued their pursuit of celebrating Pride month in style.
The 2024 Pride Edition: A Symphony in Colors
Made of degradé yarn that creates an immersive multicoloured effect, the 2024 Pride Edition Braided Solo Loop is not just a band to slip over your wrist. It’s a coloured canvas for the flags of the multihued pride movement. With the same silhouette as the popular 2021 design, the updated 2024 version adds more colour and brightness to the spectrum of LGBTQ+ identities with new maroon stripes to represent transgender and nonbinary people and with stripes for Black, Latinx and HIV/AIDS communities. The Wrist Warming Collection is available in nine new colourways.
A Closer Look at the 2020 Pride Edition Braided Solo Loop
Comfort Meets Style
Though appearance is always part of the point with APPLE WATCH bands, the Pride Edition is a flashy yet flexible piece of tech that boasts the same attributes as a standard APPLE WATCH band: the 16,000 polyester yarn filaments interwoven with silicone threads ensure a stretchy, but not loose fit. The band features ‘sweat- and water-resistant materials’ and can be worn while running around a ballpark, doing chores at home or even marching in a pride parade.
Perfect Harmony with the APPLE WATCH
Although it’s my favourite APPLE WATCH accessory of 2024, the Pride Edition Braided Solo Loop is more than just a well-made band to complete the APPLE WATCH ecosystem. Even if mis-matched in size with the larger APPLE WATCH Ultra, the lightness, comfort and pastel rainbows make it a vibrant piece of kit. The matching Pride Radiance watchface turns the APPLE WATCH in to an emblem of pride and progress.
Embracing Pride with Every Tick
Beyond Just an Accessory
What Apple does with a Pride Edition band is not only make a statement about fashion or about technology. It is making a statement about celebration – of identity, of love, of freedom, of a journey of community and, importantly, of allies. When I look down and switch to the Pride Radiance face, and see the colours move around my wrist, it’s an important reminder to me of where this community has been and what paths it still has before it.
A Must-Have for Apple Enthusiasts and Allies
Only the 2024 Pride Edition Braided Solo Loop, which retails for the somewhat premium-sounding price of $99, can do all this and more. It comes with a pay-what-you-can subscription, a kind of charitable membership in a cross-generational and multi-continental family. The band stretches, but eventually it will snap back. Similarly, the message it conveys will continue to reach hearts and minds as it is shared and worn, pulled this way and that – a testament to inclusivity and acceptance.
Editors' Recommendations
Sure, it miiiight be nice to think about some more cutting-edge technology at WWDC 2024 – and, hopefully, an update to that commitment from Cook – but I also want to remember how an add-on accessory like the APPLE WATCH Pride Edition band can simultaneously feel small and make a huge, simple statement. So, while we all anxiously await new health features and other magical tricks for the APPLE WATCH, remember that every accessory, every feature, every passing moment is a step closer to understanding and celebrating the myriad ways we are all human.
Understanding Apple's Role in Pride Month
Apple’s participation in Pride Month has spanned beyond just apps; it now includes products such as the Pride Edition APPLE WATCH band. In this way, Apple’s commitment to diversity and inclusion in wider society through technology reflects social causes and, importantly, helps participate in the civil rights conversation. As we don our technicolour wrists, we are reminded of the strength in our diversity, the beauty in our individuality, and the future where we can all find acceptance, and love.
