Several weeks ago, Levi’s smart jacket that they worked together with Google on finally went on sale, but it seems like this wasn’t a one time collaboration because during The Wall Street Journal’s D. Live conference, Levi’s CEO Chip Bergh revealed that the company was already working on a second smart jacket with Google.According to Bergh, he’s hoping that the next iteration will have even more functionality than the first, and that it will not require a screen, which means that incorporating it into clothes will be much easier. For those unfamiliar, Project Jacquard was announced by Google a couple of years ago.
Basically the project involved weaving conductive threads into clothing, thus making our clothes “smarter” and having it interact with our electronics. This is versus users have to rely on third-party gadgets or accessories which could be bulky or easily forgotten. One of the ways that they’re using Project Jacquard is through clothing, like jackets created by Levi’s, although technically it could be used for anything, like a swimsuit that could track your laps and heart rate.
According to Bergh, “We have to honor our past. But we have to also put one foot going very confidently into the future with innovation.”
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