In collaboration with Boosted, Vans Outerwear is proud to introduce the Vans x Boosted Program. Designed for fast and easy communication on the mountain, the program is available in the Grunt Insulated LTD Jacket and the Down Supreme LTD Jacket. The jackets are embedded with Boosted branded Bluetooth technology that seamlessly links your Bluetooth enabled mobile phone and favorite MP3 device. The stereo headset allows for convenient use on your mobile phone while listening to your favorite tracks, without interrupting your ride.
How cool is that? I know that there are other brands out there that have put bluetooth technology into their jackets before, but I still think its really cool, and a nice looking jacket too. I’ve haven;t snowboarded much before, so I’m probably not the best to judge, but how often do people make calls when they’re on the slopes? I guess that using it to play mp3s would be pretty awesome when you’re snowboarding though.
Vans x Boost Mobile Jacket
I know what you’re thinking, these tees are pretty normal looking, nothing special, not really worthy of blogging, right?
Well, Mister (or Missus) Know-it-all, prepare to eat humble pie, because these tees are heat sensitive. As the temperature rises the cloud begins to fade away and the sun appears, which is not only a really cool use of heat sensitive ink, but also a great way to illustrate the point behind this design.
You know when its winter and the days are really short and it starts to get you down? A more extreme version of that is Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D.), which is what this tee is very cleverly highlighting. As the weather gets sunnier and hotter, your tee is hotter, and therefore gets sunnier, and you’re happier, sooo cool!
There’s another design that has a cloud on it which brings up the message “the sun is nature’s prozac” which is technically just as impressive, but I don’t think it has quite the same impact.
Neither are for sale, unfortunately, I think they’re just part of a designer’s portfolio. [via Kottke]
*The designers website seemed to disappear as I was writing about the tees, so those links probably won’t work, unless there’s just a temporary issue.
I don’t expect anyone to be buying this pair of hoodies since the price is $480-$600, but you know how I’m a sucker for instances when clothing and technology, and these hoodies are most definitely one of those instances. I could try and explain it myself, but the makers are far more eloquent than I am, so…
A fitted dark-blue canvas hoodie sports the collection’s abstracted logo in a pattern made of a futuristic silver conductive fabric. When two people wearing the hoodies embrace they actually power each other up through that pattern. The symbolic energy transfer becomes fully actualized and the embrace is instantly translated into an explosion of light and sound.
Small white lights flicker in the back of each hoodie forming a big-dipper pattern while a faint heart beat sound is emitted. The hoodies themselves take their design inspiration from the construction of early Siberian hooded coats, creating an enveloping safe haven, a tranquil vestige of protection and romanticism. The hoodies also come in a luxurious, cashmere-like 100% bamboo basket weave — very huggable indeed.
Amazing, right?
I know that it’s practical application is actually pretty limited, but the very idea of a hoodie that is powered by hugs, let me say that again> Powered. By. Hugs. Is just utterly fantastic to me, its like a real life version of the Care Bears. Its cool how Studio 5050 seem to have also made a quality garment too, usually techno-clothing is more focused on the electrical side of things than the quality of the clothes, so its good to see them going above and beyond in the name of comfort.
embrace-me by Studio 5050
I’m a bit of a fan of clothing and technology being brought together in some kinda crazy meeting of fashion and science (fashience? scishion?), and when it can actually have a practical application that’s even better. The t-shirt above, which LiveScience charitably describe as ‘pretty cool-looking’, can monitor a persons vital signs, which would probably be pretty good for people in hospitals, those being rehabilitated at home, and athletes. One version of the t-shirt collects data on an SD card for later analysis, and another version can be synced up with a smartphone or PDA. I think it would be really cool if the shirt had GPS, and then you’d be able to monitor how your body reacted at different points during the day, I know that’s probably information overload for a lot of people, but it could be a pretty interesting project.
T-Shirt Monitors Heart Rate @ LiveScience [via TeeBurst]
