A weekly roundup of what's happening at the intersection of tech and fashion.
ILLUMINATED SPORTS TECH OF THE WEEK
Always on the front line to create new sports tech developments, Nike just released a new type of garment that helps illuminate your path when training anytime, anyplace, in all levels of light. The Nike Flash Pack incorporates advanced reflective features (to the tune of 400-candlepower) in the form of glass-beaded exterior detailing, keeping you visible in even pitch-black darkness. Practical yet stylish, the apparel is also waterproof, breathable, and comes with thermal properties.
INTERACTIVE FASHION SITE OF THE WEEK
It’s always cool to see a fashion brand think outside the box when it comes to innovative web design (we’re big fans of Maison Martin Margiela’s URL home, for example) – check out Undercoverism.com, the site dedicated to the Underground collections by Japanese designer Jun Takahashi. Fully interactive, image and video links to each part of the site can be moved around to suit your own personal aesthetic tastes. Jun has also just revealed his new NIKE X UNDERCOVER GYAKUSOU Holiday 2013 collaboration collection, which you can see here.
CRAZY EXPENSIVE DIGITAL ART OF THE WEEK
Artist/designer/DJ collective Been Trill have caught attention for selling crazily expensive items before (having recently dropped four sets of laces for an eye-watering $100 price tag), but man, their latest project is something else. This week, #beentrill co-founder Matthew Williams posted an Instagram shot of a 3D scan projection of a floating head, on show at NYC's The Hole gallery - followed by Sydney Reising snapping the image to reveal the whopping $1,000,000 asking price. Feeling flush, anyone?
SENSE-BENDING APP OF THE WEEK
Apps are getting more and more sophisticated every month, but this is the first we've heard of an app that can actually alter your bodily functions. Scentee comes with a clip-on phone device that is designed to change the way we taste food, releasing tasty aromas with built in air freshener-style cartridges. Basically, you could use it to trick yourself into thinking you're eating a cheeseburger when you're actually stuck with salad. Good for dieters maybe, but still slightly... weird? Scentee also comes with a function that releases the smell of your favourite when you get a text, alarm alert and so on. Tempting - who wouldn't want to wake up to the smell of doner kebab?
IMMERSIVE BODYSUITS OF THE WEEK
stitchies from tony olsson on Vimeo.
Wearable haptic tech (or garments that incorporate tactile feedback technology, responding to touch with LEDs/movement/vibrations etc) is getting more and more influential, and the Human Stitches project marks the next step in its advancement. Consisting of a pair of wireless bodysuits packed with 120 haptic zones, the apparel allows for telehaptic (#wordoftheweek) communication between wearers through a linked-up sensor/actuator set-up. In other words, if you touched the arm of your suit, the other user would feel it. Forget sexting, imagine the possibilities...
ONLINE MUSIC-INSPIRED APPAREL OF THE WEEK
If you’re one of those people who spends loads of time online looking for new artists and weird URL music, why not rep your underground cool in a new S/S14 design from SHOOP Clothing? Their latest collection #BOUNCE takes inspiration from digital tunes, incorporating Soundcloud-esque wave prints on a range of sporty daywear separates – apparently the focus is all about a Justin Timberlake song that’s digitally visualised and looped. Get a piece of the action on the SHOOP site here!
INTER-COMPATIBLE GADGETS OF THE WEEK
After months of hype, Sony has finally dropped a new generation of intercompatible gadgets – i.e. the SmartWatch 2, Xperia Z Ultra phablet and Xperia Z1 smartphone – much to the glee of tech heads everywhere. Available to buy in the US for $199.95, the SmartWatch 2 is water-resistant, dustproof and able to connect to other Sony devices, as well as Gmail, Facebook and Twitter. The watch launch has triggered a bunch of questions, namely: when will we see a UK release, will it actually prove more popular than a smartphone – and how will Apple’supcoming iWatch design compare?