Don’t Pair Your Phone, Pair Your Wardrobe!

Tech and fashion have paired nicely for over a decade. Innovation combined with creative design has yielded some pretty amazing pieces. Before, it was start-up designers or those with small houses that were implementing this new trend. Now, it is becoming more and more dominant throughout the industry.

Tommy Hilfiger tapped eight native Roblox designers to create 30 digital fashion items based on the brands own pieces. Forever 21, working with metaverse creation agency Virtual Brand Group, opened a “Shop City” in which Roblox influencers create and manage their own stores, competing against each other. As new merchandise lands in the physical world, the same pieces will become available virtually.

Here are some amazing designs, that are easily ordered online (when they are not sold out!) to add to your wardrobe.

Levi’s® Commuter X Jacquard By Google Trucker Jacket

The Levi’s Commuter x Jacquard by Google Trucker Jacket is a piece of wearable technology designed for urban cyclists. Conductive yarn is weaved into the left cuff enabling touch interactivity so users can tap, swipe or hold to fulfill simple tasks like changing music tracks, blocking or answering calls or accessing navigation information (delivered by voice).

The Unseen for Selfridges

Founded by Lauren Bowker, who refers to herself as a material alchemist, The Unseen has captured the simple idea of colors that alter based on user interaction or the environment they’re placed in.

The resulting line of luxury items for Selfridges respond to things like air pressure, body temperature, touch, wind, and sunlight. An Italian alligator-skin shoulder bag for instance saw environmentally-responsive ink shifting from black in the winter, to red in the spring, blue in the summer and green fading to red in the autumn.

Thesis Couture

Self-proclaimed as the world’s first high performance stilettos, these shoes from Thesis Couture are indeed focused on functionality. They combine high heels (four inches) with comfort. Sound impossible? Founder Dolly Singh, a former SpaceX employee, hired a rocket scientist, an orthopedic surgeon, a mechanical engineer, a shoe designer, and an Italian shoemaker to create a shoe that does exactly that, according to the NY Times.

A ballistic-grade polymer in the heel stops it from feeling so painful underfoot, while the angle of the shoe and the platform at the front enables it to seem like you’re wearing something an inch lower than it is. It is a great use of technology applied to something many women would love.

Bolt Threads

One of the buzziest announcements of 2015 was Bolt Threads, a San Francisco-based company brewing spider silk protein in fermentation vats and then spinning it into yarn. Surpassing what we typically think of as wearables, this bioengineering continues to be one of the most exciting developments in fashion today.

To read more great tech articles, read the current tech-focused issue of John Eric Home found here: