Technology is slowly (but surely) investing and infiltrating the world of fashion. A few days ago, and three years after their first collaboration, Google and Levi’s revealed a new smart jacket which has been dubbed ‘The Trucker Jacket’. This item of clothing was created and designed by Jacquard, the ‘smart textiles’ branch belonging to Mountain View.
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In 2017, the two brands released their first model of the smart jacket, mainly aimed at a sporty audience, equipped with a touch-sensitive left sleeve which would allow you to control certain applications on your smartphone, as French source, Le Journal du Geek explained. However, the jacket did have some considerable drawbacks at the time, such as the fact that it could only be washed a dozen times before falling apart and breaking, due to the several electronic circuits that it contained.
No surprises here, this model that went for 350 dollars a pop wasn’t particularly successful in the grand scheme of things, which pushed Jacquard to develop a new version which they revealed on Monday 30th September. And all we can say that they have changed things… but not so much in its appearance.
At first glance, the ‘Trucker Jacket’, which you can see in the video at the top of this article, looks like a more classic version of a normal denim jacket. But the real changes lie under the fabric. Google focussed on designing a smaller and more discreet electronic component, as Presse Citron explained. This source also states that the ‘touch-sensitive surface on the jacket’s left sleeve supports four types of gestures’ and that ‘for each gesture, the user can assign a command which will be linked to their smartphone.’
This version will also be cheaper than its predecessor as it will cost around 200 euros. It will be marketed in the United States, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Germany.
While we wait for it to hit the shelves though, why not take a crack at one of the small, sporty, smartwatches?
