Home Products Google Levi’s® Jacket that thinks it’s a Touchscreen – Project Jacquard

Levi’s® Jacket that thinks it’s a Touchscreen – Project Jacquard

June 2, 2017

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Project Jacquard. Google and Levi’s team up to turn clothing into gadgets.

Wearables are becoming a multi-million dollar technology and Levi is about to take a crack at it. It was Ivan Poupyrev that announced the company was collaborating with the iconic clothing company. At the I/O conference this year, the Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) research unit offered an update on its interactive textiles project unveiled last year, Project Jacquard.

Levi’s and Google’s yearlong collaboration project involves weaving multi-touch sensors into clothes.The initiative Project Jacquard, has given rise to a jean jacket designed specifically to make cycling safer for urban bike riders. Even though the development of a “connected” smart jacket is aimed at cyclists, it would be usable in other circumstances. This will allow wearers to do things like control their music, answer phone calls, access navigation and more, all by tapping and swiping on the jacket’s sleeve. How cool is that!

A Jacquard tag is fashioned into the jacket’s sleeve, and it can be pulled out and charged via USB. This tag connects with the LED, applying touch sensation and can control interactions with mobile devices. The connection points for the tech cleverly takes advantage of the jacket’s button-hole to look less obtrusive. The interactive garment is created with conductive threads, which are woven into the denim textile and arranged to form textured panels on the sleeves.Touching these patches sends signals wirelessly to a smartphone or tablet, via a detachable smart tag that clips to the cuff.

The jacket allows cyclists to control their mobile experience and connect to a variety of services, such as music or maps, directly from the jacket, said Levi

The wearer can essentially program the textile surface interface so that their gestures have meanings. The gestures can then activate specific functions. By using the Jacquard platform app, configuring what they want primary and secondary uses to be from some of the aforementioned options ahead of time. While the jacket is packed with state of the art technology, it is rugged enough to be treated like any other garment. The technical specs from Levi state that the jacket can even be placed in a washing machine. The concept video featured here for their product, Levi’s Commuter x Jacquard, slated for beta release this fall and to hit shelves widely in 2017. Project Jacquard, the next big thing? Let us know what you think.