"...said Mark Hung ..."
We all know which garment he'll be sporting.
Blue pants maker Levi's plans to begin selling its first cloth-ware with Google inside on Wednesday – and the tech should survive up to 10 washes. The $350 Levi's Commuter Trucker Jacket with Jacquard by Google has been designed to function as device controller through the incorporation of Project Jacquard, Google's connected …
How often do you really wash your jacket? This looks like a jean jacket so it would be more, but I would say I get less than 10 washes on most of my jackets. I have a 20 year old leather jacket that I have only thoroughly washed 4 times(countless times I took a wet rag over it) and the leather on the cuffs are starting to get too much wear.
You have a point.
I have a leather jacket that I have owned since new. It has been sent back for replacment liner (worn holes), replacement cuffs and wasteband (Worn cuffs) and replacement zip over the years. It has been washed a total of once. Cleaned off flies (It also does motorcycling duties, but it isn't a specific motorcycling jacket), and it does get conditioned from time to time. I will be buried in this jacket. But I can't see it getting washed again.
But, I wouldn't want a bluetooth thungummy in the thing. I love the part where they state that millenials don't wear watches so they need to sell them something else...
No. No you don't. You can sell a jacket. Find. But seriously? Yes, I have found the 'e-tip' of the gloves I have useful when trying to wrestle with Strava because it thinks I just did 20 miles of cycling in 10 minutes. I do find the odd porthole for headphones useful.
But until you can provide a jacket that has a built in display in the arm*, recovers body heat and motion as stored energy and can warn me about the fact it may rain in the next 30 mins (unlike most apps, recently, which with all the low pressure have been indicating no rain during downpours), AND has built in invisible Solar panels, with a app to display the logo or camouflage of your choice in an outside oled all over the surface, then I won't bother.**
*Which is kind of like having a clear plastic sleeve that you can slide your smartphone into, energy aside. So....
** Not really. This sounds hideous. 16 year old me would probably have thought it wonderful, but then 16 year old me was at the begninning of a lot of life mistakes...
I love the part where they state that millennial don't wear watches so they need to sell them something else...
Yes, I think that requires some more investigation. Perhaps, why does millennials not wear watches? - and why do millennials compromise by getting an Android device instead of an iPhone?
Could it be that they have little money and are working on zero-hour contracts?
So maybe they won't generally be able to blow loads on *any* "smart" device or apparel and because they are generally educated (and will be loaded with student-loans for their entire life), they make virtue out of necessity?
It's not Millennials that don't wear watches - it's probably a majority these days. I'm Gen X rather than Millennial, and stopped wearing a watch when there was a phone permanently in my pocket. I've at least four watches at home, two of which are fashionable enough to be worn on a regular basis, and haven't bothered for years.
I definitely don't need a remote control in my jacket to control my phone, when I can stick my hand in my pocket and pull it out..
"How often do you really wash your jacket?"
Not very often. But my experience with these sort of things is that when the advertising says "up to 10", it means in reality "5", after which it'll be increasingly rubbish and temperamental to a degree that makes it effectively useless and you'll stop using it.
You'd all be the ones standing round saying things like "This fire is a waste of time, if you leave your meat on too long it turns to a cinder and, although it might be able to fend off a wolf or two, it burns my fingers every time I try to pick it up!" and "look at that twat with the DynaTAC, it's so bulky and expensive, one born every minute he he he"
Clearly this jacket isn't particularly useful but any one who thinks that wearable's aren't going to extend into to clothing is short-sighted and, as with lots of technologies, the very earliest examples is a bit rubbish and very expensive.
So this jacket might be shit, but the iJacket 3 we'll all be clamouring over and queuing overnight to spend a months wages on in 5-10 years time probably won't be.
So this jacket might be shit, but the iJacket 3 we'll all be clamouring over and queuing overnight to spend a months wages on in 5-10 years time probably won't be.
Yeah. Like we're all wearing Google Glasses now. Like everybody uses 3D TV. Even smartwatches have been a dismal failure, with global sales of what, 50m devices this year, compared to around 1.5 billion smartphones. In the UK, TomTom smartwatches were so popular they had to be given away free with vacuum cleaners (I was so impressed that I immediately stuck it on Ebay, and got forty quid for it).
Intelligent clothing may have some very useful functions in technical and some sporting applications, for us everyday peeps, it is yet another blind alley of technology innovation.
Nope, I need a device that I can use in a variety of situations, when I'm out walking my dogs, or when I'm commuting to work, or when I'm out socialising,... something that can be transferred from one outfit to another, maybe in a pocket, maybe,... a mobile phone?
Voice control renders this device a bit useless, doesn't it? Also, I could start and stop music etc with my Smartwatch,... if I ever wore it, but keeping it charged was such a PITA I gave up on it.
You'd all be the ones standing round saying things like "This fire is a waste of time, if you leave your meat on too long it turns to a cinder and, although it might be able to fend off a wolf or two, it burns my fingers every time I try to pick it up!"
Oh, stuff it up your nose!!
(Grateful thanks to one Mr. D Adams)
...and considering it's a denim jacket with metal buttons or press studs, and the actual device needs to be connected to the touch area, why not just have two extra studs in the relevant place, connect the device and presto, no special, limited life, limited wash "smart" material needed.
An article from 2016. Levi’s CEO explains why you should never wash a pair of jeans.
Spoken by a man who clearly never does any work, and for whom the pressing problem of cleanliness is brushing the dandruff specks off his jeans.
Back here in the real world, there's this stuff called "dirt", it comes in a billion different flavours, colours, smells, textures, and most of it laughs in the face of a gentle rub from a toothbrush. It is magically attracted to anything clean or new,
The interesting thing: we have here an item made by people with far more money and technical acumen than common sense, who don't have to worry about working hard enough to break a sweat, and who live in a place where it gets cool enough to wear a light jacket. If you didn't know Silicon Valley existed, you could now deduce its existence.
Yes. But. The odds of getting laid would increase exponentially if one paid 100$ for mandatory drinks and the rest, 250$ on the "takeaway services" offered by the club where one goes to get laid. The jacket just signals that 350$ of potential earnings were lost. Probably won't get past the bouncers.
And just what does "The jacket is designed to withstand up to 10 washes ..." mean? Is it "this jacket might be able to withstand 10 washes, but after that it will fail" or "this will withstand at least 10 washes, maybe more"? Typically ambiguous statements like this will be used for hiding behind later.
How is this any more convenient or easier to use than a £10 Bluetooth watch which can not only control various phone functions, but also display messages? On a hot day, a watch is more comfortable to wear than a jacket.
Not that I personally find it particularly arduous to take my phone from my pocket.
When the heck did it become socially acceptable again to wear jean jackets? (Especially by anyone not old enough to have been there.) That was one fashion faux pas (of many) that I didn't think was EVER coming back! Do they come with a free pair of stylin' Glasshole shutter shades? Oooh, what about parachute pants? (Not to be confused with Hammer pants....) It's no wonder a millennial won't wear a smartwatch. They must already have a giant clock suspended from a gold chain around their neck. Go get 'em Google and your spiffy jean jacket! I'm sure it's a brilliant idea with absolutely no obvious flaws.