Google and Levi’s Have a New High-Tech Jacket Up Their Sleeves
and Levi's smartphone-controlling futuristic jacket is going on sale this week.
The two companies said Monday that the Levi’s Commuter Trucker Jacket with Jacquard, which costs $350, will be available at three U.S. retail stores starting on Wednesday before a broader debut next week.
Google and Levi's pitch the jacket’s technology as making it easier for people to do things with their smartphones like select and play music--merely swiping their sleeves. For instance, bicyclists could change songs while peddling by rubbing their arms instead of futzing with their smartphones.
The jacket incorporates Google’s Jacquard technology, which includes electrically-conductive yarn that allows certain parts of clothing to function like mini-touchscreens.
People will be able to wash the denim jacket like they would normally, but they will have to remove a small tag that helps connect the jacket to their smartphones.
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Owners of the jacket will have to download to their phones a corresponding app that works for both Android and iPhones. However, at minimum, Apple users must have an iPhone 6 that runs iOS 10 or newer versions of the company's mobile operating system.
The two companies first announced that they would be working on the jacket in 2015 at Google's annual developer conference.
The three stores will sale the jacket on Wednesday are Fred Segal in Los Angeles, Kinfolk in Brooklyn, NY., and Concepts in Cambridge, Mass.
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