Google and Levi’s $350 “Smart Jacket” Can Only Be Washed 10 Times

Megalith

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Google and Levi Strauss have begun selling their so-called smart jacket: “Jacquard Threads” woven into the cuff and wirelessly connected to your mobile phone using tiny electronics embedded inside the sleeve and a flexible snap tag allow for notifications with light and haptic feedback, and wearers can assign gestures to invoke different digital “abilities” such as playing and stopping music. Unfortunately, the fabric can only survive being washed 10 times.

I certainly need to wash my jackets less often than I wash my jeans, but I also hang on to my jackets for far longer -- and I can promise you, all my coats have been washed (or dry cleaned) more than ten times. It's certainly puzzling that the same company whose CEO in 2014 announced that “We are the ultimate in sustainable apparel. If you buy [our jeans] they will last a lot longer than most people’s waistlines will" is now selling a $350 item that won't retain full functionality longer than a couple years of relatively light use.
 
Lol people these days need a GPS to find where there going. Put a map infront of them and there blank. Put them in the middle of nowhere with just a knife and a compass and they would die. I fix tech all the time but I never want to use tech for my everyday life.
 
Lol people these days need a GPS to find where there going. Put a map infront of them and there blank. Put them in the middle of nowhere with just a knife and a compass and they would die. I fix tech all the time but I never want to use tech for my everyday life.

So you think everyone (or even a majority) could read a map and survive in the middle of nowhere with just a knife and compass before GPS was invented? Reads like just another "LOL stoopid millennials!!!!" post.
 
I'm not gonna lie, my jackets only get washed once maybe twice a year.....and that's usually when I spill something on it. I don't sweat or wear them all day long like some people do, so I understand mine might get less then normal wear. Some people wear their jacket like it's an integral part of their outfit (like a flannel jacket in the 90's).
 
So you think everyone (or even a majority) could read a map and survive in the middle of nowhere with just a knife and compass before GPS was invented? Reads like just another "LOL stoopid millennials!!!!" post.

It was a "LOL stoopid millennials!!!!" post, they are morons. Or, a majority anyway. Even the newer hunters I meet are fudging idiots and I don't want them anywhere near me. Before GPS, so what 1980? yes, it would be a much higher number of people that could survive in the woods. Traditions like hunting/canning/changing a oh maybe TIRE on your car! etc have been lost to dumba$$ tweets and self centered snowflakes.
 
It was a "LOL stoopid millennials!!!!" post, they are morons. Or, a majority anyway. Even the newer hunters I meet are fudging idiots and I don't want them anywhere near me. Before GPS, so what 1980? yes, it would be a much higher number of people that could survive in the woods. Traditions like hunting/canning/changing a oh maybe TIRE on your car! etc have been lost to dumba$$ tweets and self centered snowflakes.

Do you know anybody in that age range or are you just going off pictures of hipsters?
 
It was a "LOL stoopid millennials!!!!" post, they are morons. Or, a majority anyway. Even the newer hunters I meet are fudging idiots and I don't want them anywhere near me. Before GPS, so what 1980? yes, it would be a much higher number of people that could survive in the woods. Traditions like hunting/canning/changing a oh maybe TIRE on your car! etc have been lost to dumba$$ tweets and self centered snowflakes.

I don't know any snow flakes (but I know a lot of Millennials) and they all change their own tires and oil, all of them spend their summer weekends camping, and a good size group of them spend half a year roughing it in the Canadian back country being more of a 'man' then you probably have been in your lifetime.

I have no doubt snowflakes exist, but when you paint with such a broad brush, the only idiot is you.
 
TFA shows pictures of the model with a bicycle, suggesting it is good for bikers. Unless other folk's luck is better then mine, cycling, motor or peddle, involves risk of rain. Sometimes enough to qualify as a washing. Which often means you want to wash it again to get all the road grime out of it. So a connectable lifespan of less then a year if used as suggested?

Maybe they should put the swipe detecting part into a snap on sleeve cover that can be removed prior to washing and replaced when it dies.
 
It was a "LOL stoopid millennials!!!!" post, they are morons. Or, a majority anyway. Even the newer hunters I meet are fudging idiots and I don't want them anywhere near me. Before GPS, so what 1980? yes, it would be a much higher number of people that could survive in the woods. Traditions like hunting/canning/changing a oh maybe TIRE on your car! etc have been lost to dumba$$ tweets and self centered snowflakes.
Before 1980 people who died in the woods were just never found again, don't mistake that with "being able to survive"
 
So you think everyone (or even a majority) could read a map and survive in the middle of nowhere with just a knife and compass before GPS was invented? Reads like just another "LOL stoopid millennials!!!!" post.

Considering that before GPS millions of people took vacations across the country visited many states and saw many attractions, how do you think they did it. WITH MAPS.

And drop that survive in the wilderness crap. People don't use the GPS on their smart phone to survive in the wilderness they use it to find a coffee shop across town.
 
10 washes for a jacket is more than enough. Jackets just don't look as good after many washes. Most of mine get maybe 5 washes before going in the trash/recycling/charity shop after 10 years of ownership.
 
I don't know any snow flakes (but I know a lot of Millennials) and they all change their own tires and oil, all of them spend their summer weekends camping, and a good size group of them spend half a year roughing it in the Canadian back country being more of a 'man' then you probably have been in your lifetime.

I have no doubt snowflakes exist, but when you paint with such a broad brush, the only idiot is you.

you mean, aside from being generally stuffed on meds and lowering the average IQ ratings worldwide, they can also do that? change tires and oil huh? gee thats impressive :p
 
you mean, aside from being generally stuffed on meds and lowering the average IQ ratings worldwide, they can also do that? change tires and oil huh? gee thats impressive :p
Or we're stuffed on meds, can read a map, have a very high IQ (who really cares?), are a financial executive and sitting on the terrace of a top floor suite in Paris on a holiday catching up on the news back home. Just throwing that out there...;)

350 for a jacket isn't outrageous and I've never heard of someone who washes a jacket so often they are worried about 10 washes before replacement. Take care of your shit people!
 
Or we're stuffed on meds, can read a map, have a very high IQ (who really cares?), are a financial executive and sitting on the terrace of a top floor suite in Paris on a holiday catching up on the news back home. Just throwing that out there...;)

you mean, its normal 16-17 years old millennials being executives at worldwide companies huh? gee no shit :p
 
i'm 37 born in 1980 and consider myself Generation X not a Millennial but I know i'm close to the cut off the starting year vary depending on the source.

I think he is referring to Centennials which are kids born around 1996 and after. So that would be like 21 and I can vouch for the ones that I've met they were morons.

But then again its to be expected people in their early 20s are still kids.
 
i'm 37 born in 1980 and consider myself Generation X not a Millennial but I know i'm close to the cut off the starting year vary depending on the source.

I think he is referring to Centennials which are kids born around 1996 and after. So that would be like 21 and I can vouch for the ones that I've met they were morons.

But then again its to be expected people in their early 20s are still kids.

i was born in 82, yeah i was referring to people born after 2000 duh :p
 
I watched this product announced at a Google Conference a few years ago. I couldn't think of a good use for it. Now that I see it's out, I still can't. This is stupid. Shrugs - whatever floats your boat.
 
Have y'all seen the dewalt jacket that takes the 20V battery pack and has heater coils built-in?
 
$350 Levi jacket with embedded gadget are worthless in areas where there's always rain, like Washington and Oregon for example.
 
Hah! You're a millennial and didn't even know it!;)

yes yes rub it in, crucify me, bring a couple of planks and nail me to it, torture me, what the hell, and its not the first time i do this, at least not here, fuck :p
 
"This damn younger generation is a useless bunch of dumbasses. Now MY generation is just so great - we do everything the old fashioned way" - every generation ever.
 
"This damn younger generation is a useless bunch of dumbasses. Now MY generation is just so great - we do everything the old fashioned way" - every generation ever.

Each generation grew up with several or more new technologies which bests the previous yet the society worsens as time passes on.
 
It was a "LOL stoopid millennials!!!!" post, they are morons. Or, a majority anyway. Even the newer hunters I meet are fudging idiots and I don't want them anywhere near me. Before GPS, so what 1980? yes, it would be a much higher number of people that could survive in the woods. Traditions like hunting/canning/changing a oh maybe TIRE on your car! etc have been lost to dumba$$ tweets and self centered snowflakes.
We aren't hunter-gatherers anymore. People know less useless information.

Should we mock people for not knowing how to handle a horse drawn carriage? Or how to build a house by hand?
 
Considering that before GPS millions of people took vacations across the country visited many states and saw many attractions, how do you think they did it. WITH MAPS.

And drop that survive in the wilderness crap. People don't use the GPS on their smart phone to survive in the wilderness they use it to find a coffee shop across town.
And the "Guys won't ask for directions no matter how lost they are" goes directly against the machismo of reading maps....
 
My first thought was the Marty McFly jacket from Back to the Future II. The reality leaves a lot to be desired. :D
 
Lol people these days need a GPS to find where there going. Put a map infront of them and there blank. Put them in the middle of nowhere with just a knife and a compass and they would die. I fix tech all the time but I never want to use tech for my everyday life.

Local stuff where you already live, I understand. However, if you are in a Country you have never been with a language you do not speak, GPS and something like Google Glass would definitely be helpful.
 
Who washes clothes these days? Just Febreze with eye-watering throat-closing fragrance to cover up the stink.
 
yes yes rub it in, crucify me, bring a couple of planks and nail me to it, torture me, what the hell, and its not the first time i do this, at least not here, fuck :p
Just giving you a little shit my man! :)
 
Missed this when it originally was being posted but will jump in here a few days late. I actually didn't know until just recently the age range of millennials and had been using it to refer to the wrong age group. I had thought it was people born mid 90s there mostly grew up only in the new millennium as normally when hearing the term it was being incorrectly used to reference people in their early to mid 20s. Normally talking about how millennials entering the work force the past few years and how they expect to get the top pay for doing the least amount of work, and many other similar things that all referenced people just getting out of high school or college. Or was referencing how millennials aren't getting married and having kids like the generations before them, but again when an age was given it was always fewer people in their 20s have kids than people currently in their 30s did when they were in their 20s. However the term millennials actually refer to people who are in their 30s now and are the people that went into adulthood shortly before 2000. Those born around 2000 are the digital generation or something along those lines. Thus most of the insults that people have had against millennials are actually more aimed at the digital gen and not so much the millennial gen from what I normally hear. I think what happen is that back in the 90s they used the term generation Y to refer to this generation (since Y comes after X) and so when the term millennials started to be used, I bet a good amount of people thought that was referring to the next generation after Y not realizing it was actually a rename for generation Y because those that they normally use as their examples for a problem are people that are either at the last few years or the range or who are actually a generation up. Depending on what group is using the term it could mean somebody born as early as 76 - 80 and as late as 94 or up till today. The US government uses 82 - 2000. One research center says 81 - today, Australia's research center says 81 - 94, Nelson ratings us 77 - 95, Metlife uses 77 - 94. So safe to say that if you are under 40 somebody is going to consider you a millennial, which at the same time half the statements I hear to refer to this group don't really apply. We are used to have a phone glued to our hands all the time and not being able to work without being on social media all the time due to having grown up with these things... neither of those existed for the generation and wouldn't have came out till after we were in the work force for half that group. Most of the group would have been working for at least 1 decade if not close to 2 now, so anything being used to reference people in the work force for only the last 1 - 4 years really doesn't apply to half the people. However that is no different than any other ism where 2% of a center color group does something and that reflects them all.


As for the jacket. I have to agree that so few washes sounds crazy. If a normal jacket you might wear it for a little bit every day and that is it. At which point you wouldn't need to wash it much. However when it is meant to be a part of your outfit day in and day out to control anything with your phone, it will need washed more often. So the idea is cool, but I think like glass it is way ahead of its time and will fail now only to come back in 10 - 15 years as a much better idea.
 
Would never buy such a thing but why the fuck did they make it denim? Obviously it's Levi but I would think this type of thing would be much better suited in a nicer jacket material then fucking denim.
 
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