Technology is ever evolving and has been constantly changing our lives with new gadgets coming our way. When someone once told me that everything will be driven by technology I laughed away as I said that clothes would never be a gadget. Here we are now, 2017 and two very different corporate companies have collaborated to bring to us wearable technology. The jacket, which Levi introduced this week was made in partnership with Google’s project Jacquard a division within the company’s Advanced Technology and Projects. After two years they have come up with Project Jacquard Commuter Trucker jacket.
Picture a jacket that is almost as good as your phone in every way. The jacket has conductive fibers that are woven directly into clothing these conductive fibers are flexible and can be washed — though the actual electronics are handled by the cufflink, which you have to remove before you wash the jacket. Any motions you make on the left cuff of the jacket’s sleeve register as touch inputs just like a screen. The process works just like any phone that connects through a wireless system. The jacket connects to your smartphone via a Bluetooth attachment that clips on as a cufflink.
The coolest thing about this jacket is the fabric of the left sleeve. It has a rechargeable tag tucked inside it. On the whole, this is one kind of a jacket as it is also smart. Because it is made up of conductive yarn it helps in all round touch functionality powered by the tag. The tag comes with support for USB charging, which makes it pretty easy for plug and charge. The functionalities on the Commuter jacket include playing music, opening lock screen, managing calendar, Google Maps, and much more as it pairs with your smartphone. Only snag being that it can’t work seamlessly with an iPhone.
Just by using finger movements you can check the time on your phone, play-pause-forward the music, along with other features. To connect your phone to the Commuter jacket, you have to install “Project Jacquard” app on your phone and from the app you can pick gestures that you want for different functions. Levi’s also said that they are working on adding more gestures in the future, which would be helpful in making the jacket smarter.