Levi's Smart Jacket (It's the end of the world as we know it . . . and I DO NOT feel fine)

[Superfluous]

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/levi-already-working-google-second-211700171.html

Levi's connected denim jacketwent on sale three weeks ago, but CEO Chip Bergh said it's already working with Google on version 2.0 of the Project Jacquard platform. At Wall Street Journal's D. Live conference, Bergh said that he'd like new clothing to have even more functionality. If it's a feature that doesn't require a screen, he said, then there's a possibility it could be incorporated into the next Levi's and Google collaboration.

Bergh showed off a few capabilities of the current Google-powered jacket on stage. He swiped his sleeve to tell the time, and another swipe gave him navigation directions. The jacket uses a conductive fiber that was developed as part of Google Advanced Technology and Product group's Project Jacquard. It's meant primarily as a jacket for cyclists, so they don't need to look at a screen when riding. "We've come up with a solution so people aren't constantly taking phones out of their pocket," he said.

He went on to say that this is just the start of wearable computing. Bergh foresees a future where conductive thread and fabric is weaved into all items of clothing. For example, a future swimsuit might have embedded fibers that could keep track of lap turns and heart rate. As for whether the new Google jacket will have a voice interface, he said that the fibers don't listen just yet.

"We have to honor our past," Bergh said regarding Levi's heritage. "But we have to also put one foot going very confidently into the future with innovation."

 

[GHT]

If you want to understand a key piece of Google's vision for the future of the fashion, furniture, and automotive industries, look no further than Lady Gaga. Specifically, at a dress she wore to a 2013 iTunes Festival in London. Her ensemble, made by design firm Studio XO, included a 3D-printed mechanism that blew bubbles as she walked.
The mind boggles, imagine that you are in the can, and you get hacked into...........

 

[nick123]

I hate it.

 

[Big J]

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!

What a joke.
It's not much of a 'smart jacket' if you ask me. It doesn't go to the bar and order my next drink while I take a leak, nor is it going to bundle me into a taxi and make sure I get home ok.

Why would I want to make sure all my clothes are updated and synched when I could just not bother and take my phone with me instead?

It reminds me of Levi's 'twister' jeans from about 20 years ago. They were supposed to be the next big thing that would change jeans FOREVER! But the 'cool kids' moved on and regular jeans were soon back in stock 'cause it was a marketing gimmick.

Remember google glass? Yeah, they really caught on with their creepy stalker photo taking, all the 'this is the future' hype couldn't save them. They were about as cool as a dose of the clap.

I used to laugh out loud at guys in bars who wore their Bluetooth earpiece for their cell phones, just in case they got that important call!

And I still get my phone out and hold it to my actual ear when I make a call rather than use the earphone mic, coz I don't want to look like I'm suffering from a mental illness.

Bartender Edit: Let's play nice, now. Strong opinions are all very well, but a standard of civility is expected on these premises.

'Connected' heritage clothing? LOLZ!

 

[Seb Lucas]

I don't even know what any of that means. I am not on Facebook or any other social media. I rarely speak on the phone and would prefer not to own one because the less I am plugged in to the world the happier I am.

 

[Monitor]

Well, times do change and conductive fabric in clothes will find use in some fields of work but this particular thing is incredibly stupid because people who can afford to buy this kinda stuff, definitely won't be wearing this jacket enough times to make any use of it. Or any jacket, for that matter. Least of all, a denim jacket.

I mean, that video, Christ almighty... Aside the fact that the dude is riding a fixed gear bicycle with no brakes and with pedal f*****g straps, where is he going in this ridiculous double jeans combo? Work? Meeting? Dinner? In a denim jacket?

 

[MisterCairo]

In the immortal words of Mr. Withnail:

"What absolute twaddle".

 

[Feraud]

Levis can barely make a pair of jeans with a decent rise. You think I'm trusting them to make a 'smart jacket'?? This is a hard pass for me.

 

[Edward]

I can't imagine this would ever play to the crowd here. It's not something that particularly appeals to me either - though I rather like that someone is trying it. If there's nobody trying anything new, the culture as a whole will stagnate. Given the fast-moving pace of innovation in "the era", I imagine somebosdy from back then brought forward in time would have a right old, wry laugh at the outright luddism some folks indulge via celebrating 'the era'.

As with anything else, if this tech finds its place, it'll be because enough folks find a use for it. Otherwise, it'll be fashion ephemera and things will move on. There's no real demandfor Google glass in day to day life - though I'd be very surprised if, in twenty years' time, something along those lines hasn't replaced the audioguide systems one currently sees in museums and art galleries.

The talk about the jacket in question being aimed at cyclists.... I can certainly understand why pro cycling gear and gymwear with these sorts of functions might be useful. I do wish the idiot driver I had to watch out for when crossing to the busstop this morning had been using non-screen technology behind the wheel. (Had I but had my camera to hand, or there'd be a photograph of her texting at the wheel in local plod's email inbox right now.) Something which picked up on certain physical charactersitics could be of great use to people with certain medical conditions. In terms of people in general, I'm not sure whether it will ever catch on. Blutooth headsets, as pointed out, are rare now. I found it remarkably convenient at home, myself, but too gimmicky and hasslesome on the move. That said, what really killed it was that the kids now all use their phones to listen to music / consume video content, so they have reverted to headphones..... with built-in capability to answer the phone and converse: blammo - BT headsets go the way of the minidisk when the high-capacity MP3 player arrives.

Doubtless, the next step for this sort of wearable tech will be to adapt it for the business world. It would be interesting what features there might be useful - maybe something which whispered the time to you in an earpiece when you touched your sleeve, so at some high level presentation you need never be seen to be clock-watching? I'm sure they'll come up with a dozen ideas, and they'll either take off or not. For myself, I'm hoping they come up with some new wonderfibre that can be intertwined with wool in order to wholly mothproof / carpetbeetleproof it. If they can make denim tell the time, surely they can do this....

As for brakeless bikes, they should be banned. It's not many weeks since a young man killed a woman in London because he couldn't stop in an emergency owing to the fct he was riding some fancy velodrome bike with no brakes on it on the public road.

 

[Edward]

Levis can barely make a pair of jeans with a decent rise. You think I'm trusting them to make a 'smart jacket'?? This is a hard pass for me.

Ha! The sad thing is thatthey are capable of some great stuff - per the LVC line - but the mainstream market has been conditioned to expect low-rise monstrosities! But hey, I'm sure the people who buy 501s these days thing much the same of my wardrobe choices.

 

[ton312]

The only tech enhanced clothing I'd ever be interested in wearing:

Until then it's a SOLID NOPE

 

[Monitor]

You have a powerful computing unit in your pocket. You can actually tell it to do stuff, you don't need clickable buttons on your jacket. Which you can't wear half a year. Also, these jackets suck on a bicycle. Also, again, fixed gear bicycle with no brakes. Please don't ride these. Just don't. They're not vintage or a classic, they're just plain stupid.

 

[Feraud]

Ha! The sad thing is thatthey are capable of some great stuff - per the LVC line - but the mainstream market has been conditioned to expect low-rise monstrosities! But hey, I'm sure the people who buy 501s these days thing much the same of my wardrobe choices.

I agree and have a few amazing pieces from the LVC line. It's great stuff. This is what adds the insult to injury in this case. Levis wants to make a jacket tell time and can recommend a restaurant but their average off the rack trousers fit like crap. Welcome to the 21st century.

 

[Doctor Strange]

As unnecessary as I find this concept, these will find favor with young folks who love to be on the bleeding edge of technology. The ones that in a decade will be get getting permanent implants so they can be connected all the time without even touching a device.

We are Borg. Resistance is futile.

Ugh.

 

[Edward]

As unnecessary as I find this concept, these will find favor with young folks who love to be on the bleeding edge of technology. The ones that in a decade will be get getting permanent implants so they can be connected all the time without even touching a device.

We are Borg. Resistance is futile.

Ugh.

It's a major shift in the culture. A lot depends on how certain concepts are viewed by the kids: for example, the Facebook demographic is aging significantly as the kids (having seen the problems some of their elders got into - the generation who were kidswhen FB arrived and put everything up there....) are increasingly shunning it for something else. A good half or so of my undergrads in any given year refuse to be on fascebook - all of them cite privacy concerns. I think that's gonig to be a big issue with wearables and implants, gonig forwards - just as was the case when GPRS / GPS arrived.

 

[Guppy]

Retro clothing forum balks at futurist clothing concept. Go figure.

 

[Monitor]

I don't mind futuristic stuff. I'd be the first in line for useful electronic implants that would actually improve my life (hell, I'd transplant my brain into an android body if it was possible) and complaining about futuristic concepts on a computer connected to the internet is hilarious in its own right but this particular idea is actually a step back! Like I said, you can tell your phone to reject a call from your boss. You don't need to touch it. Or the jacket.

 

[Monitor]

...and I am absolutely convinced that Google Glass, as a concept, is the future. We all use this technology in literally every electronic device today, yet Google Glass is somehow bad. Google Glass a crappy product because at the moment it doesn't really know what it wants to be and where it wants to go, but the concept as such is literally the future of mankind and an AR HUD as such will inevitably become a permanent addition to everyone's life, just as cellphones are now (which also saw the same amount of criticism and literally the exact same concerns at the time).
People walking around with their necks bent while dragging fingers over tiny screens is a concept from hell. It's so ancient, obsolete and wrong that I can't believe it still didn't disappear.

 

[Big J]

William Gibson wrote in Neuromacer 'why have surgery when you could carry the thing around in your pocket?', and even though he has since become something of a pastiche of himself, and an awful plagiarist, I agree with that sentiment; why would I want to put that stuff in my clothes?
I agree with Monitor that there may be some work/sports related applications where that would be desirable, but the whole point of everyday clothes is 'to look good' (isn't it?) not to be 'on the bleeding edge'. And with all 'cutting edge' technologies, it'll be 'old hat' 6 months from launch, so yeah, on second thoughts, that'd suit mall fashion cycles perfectly! I predict it'll catch on (as much as people can be bothered to buy a new laptop or phone every 6 months).

@ton312, does it come in black?

@the bartender editing my post, I was kidding.

 

[ton312]

@ton312, does it come in black?

Even better, black and gold