We might not see this shade on Wall Street bankers anytime soon, but we could picture it on the hipster urban-techie set.
(Credit: Thomas Pink)Gadgetized clothing isn't the newest thing on the catwalk anymore. We've seen jackets and hats with built-in MP3 players and Bluetooth speakers, for example, as well as a coat with pockets for 12 (count 'em, 12) of your favorite tech toys.
But we're pretty sure we've never seen a tech-inspired hot-purple necktie before.
Lucky for you, Thomas Pink's silk woven Commuter Tie--which doubles as a music player storage device--comes in other colors too, including blue, green, orange, and red, as well as a more subdued gray for the MP3-toting investment bankers out there.
The tie accommodates the new iPod Nano and other smaller music players. Part of the U.K. shirtmaker's autumn/winter line, the tie was previously only available as a limited edition, but now is tying one on (see what I did there?) and selling more broadly for a you'd-better-really-love-music price of $90.
As a kind of fun little gimmick, the Thomas Pink site lists a series of Commuter Tie-worthy music tracks for trips to and from the office. "To" examples: Work To Do (Average White Band); Money For Nothing (Dire Straits); Big Time (Peter Gabriel). "From" examples: Friday I'm In Love (The Cure); Rush Hour Soul (Supergrass); Drive My Car (The Beatles). Unfortunately, free labor-related MP3s are not part of the deal.
Osaka, Japan-based Eager Co. is developing recyclable cardboard robots to work as mannequins that show off clothing in retail display spaces.
Eager showed off the female D+ropop mannequins at the recent 2009 International Robot Exhibition (iRex) here in Tokyo. They're billed as the world's most environmentally friendly robots because they're made of corrugated cardboard.
The mannequin bots only have a few servomotors but can still move their arms and heads gracefully. Each weighs about 13 pounds and is nearly 6 feet tall. They can also be painted and printed with logos for other advertising purposes.
The dummy bots will go on sale this month in Japan, priced at $5,400 and up. They can be rented for about $1,800 per week.
Eager envisions them being used in storefronts, and at events and other venues to attract attention. The company apparently aims to capture 1 percent of the global retail mannequin market, not easy for an obscure start-up in this economy.
But who knows? If Old Navy can cause a stir with its SuperModelquin mannequins, there's hope for the D+ropop gals.
(Credit:
yellowgoat/Etsy)
Here's another fashion accessory to complement your Polaroid-related peripherals collection. This sterling silver Good Time Ring from crafts site Etsy has a slot at the side that allows you to slip your favorite picture into the wearable frame to show off. The creator, Etsy member "yellowgoat," says the ring was inspired by Polaroid photos.
The ring's face measures 1.1 inch by less than an inch, and accommodates prints of only about three-quarters of an inch by three-quarters of an inch. Yes, that is small, but it's definitely a unique piece of jewelry that every Polaroid-devoted shutterbug should have in addition to the candle, paperweight, and mirror. Unfortunately, the ring currently appears to be sold out.
(Source: Crave Asia via Gearfuse)
(Credit:
Daily Relish)
Most camera bags these days can hardly be called a fashion statement. Many look drab, though Crumpler has a couple that sport psychedelic colors. Still, at the end of the day, all these bags shout, "I'm a camera bag!"
A photographer/blogger on Daily Relish saw the need for a more fashionable alternative, and worked on a line of bags for female photographers who want both style and function. According to her, it took two years of research, including trials, before she came up with the final design.
Looking more like handbags that woman would tote along when they head out for shopping, these bags have Velcro-removable compartments so our female shutterbugs can arrange the compartments to fit their equipment.
There's just one catch. The bags aren't in production yet. But you can sign up to be on the mailing list to be notified once these stylish carriers roll off the production line.
(Source: Crave Asia)
You may not know it, but deep within the ivory towers of hospitals a debate is raging over the future of the doctor's necktie. One company has turned the debate into an opportunity with a tie whose stain-resistant coating actually thwarts microbes.
Safety Ties come in various patterns, including this brick red/maroon style with silver/gray stripes.
(Credit: SafetySmart)Much evidence has emerged in recent years that doctors wearing ties might actually cause as much harm to patients as doctors who don't wash their hands. In one 2004 study of 42 doctors and medical staffers at the New York Hospital Medical Center of Queens, almost 50 percent of the neckties were host to bacteria that can cause pneumonia, blood infections, and more.
I'm no squirmy person, but that's just gross.
In 2006, the British Medical Association suggested that medical personnel no longer wear "functionless" items such as neckties that carry "superbugs."
And this summer, the American Medical Association considered Resolution 720, which pushed for a dress code that addresses the issue of neckties, long sleeves, and other clothing items and accessories "implicated in the spread of infections in hospitals." Implicated! This has gotten serious, folks. (A committee wants more evidence before bringing the resolution to a vote.)
But because many doctors are publicly pushing for the preservation of the necktie, which is the cred equivalent of gold grills for rappers like Flava Flav, April Strider of SafeSmart in Florida has put her money on a compromise: the high-tech, antimicrobial tie.
Strider tells the Wall Street Journal that the coating "repels bacterial contamination." She even designed the ties with a graphic print of the H1N1 influenza strand, among other "doctor themes," a lovely twist of irony as she manages to put germs on her germ-free ties. Strider's already got a major client in Wilson Memorial Hospital, near Dayton, Ohio, where some docs are wearing polo shirts but others prefer to stick with ties.
A big "oh well" to all the (probably younger) doctors hoping to do away with the necktie altogether. Hey, you could always try Portland, land of the laid-back workplace. Of course, then you'd have to grow a beard, which is a bit like farming your own colony of happy bacteria. At least that H1N1 tie is currently on sale, marked down from $44.95 to $29.95.
(Credit:
PetaPixel)
I already own a couple of camera/photography-related tees, and I have to say they are some of my favorite wear. But looking at the roundup of such clothing put together by PetaPixel makes me want to hit the links and get even more.
My favorite of the 21 shirts in the collection has to be the above "oh, crop" design, which takes a leaf out of Adobe Photoshop's crop tool. The camera display panel shirt looks pretty awesome, too, and I'm still trying to figure out which dSLR display it copies. Of course, there are plenty of T-shirts on the market now that have a camera hanging around the neck, but that's so passe.
(Credit:
PetaPixel)
(Credit:
PetaPixel)
(Source: Crave Asia via PDNPulse)
(Credit:
Triumph International Japan)
(Credit:
Triumph International Japan)
Sometimes you just want to practice your putting. If you're near a woman wearing Triumph International Japan's new golf outfit (in Japanese), and you can convince her to take it off, you can putt to your heart's content.
Yes, this ludicrous item, which is not yet for sale, consists of a green bra that transforms into a putting green, with the cups turning into holes. Sink a putt, and a speaker says, "Nice shot!" There's also a skirt that turns into a flag that says, "Be Quiet" on it, for keeping onlookers hushed while you golf next to a naked woman.
You probably won't be surprised to hear that Triumph also brought us such other classics as the Manhunter bra.
This story originally appeared on Gizmodo.
Humans have a nasty habit of producing and accumulating garbage, but Gabriel Dishaw, a junk-metal genius from Carmel, Ind., turns trash into artwork. His most recent pieces were inspired by his love of Nike shoes, as he fashioned five different kicks, including dunks and high tops.
Dishaw's shoes are collages of otherwise potentially useless hardware salvaged from computers, typewriters, and metal scraps. His work is meticulous, as it takes him up to several weeks to complete one pair of shoes and an accompanying carrying case for storage.
Though the sculptures are aesthetic replicas of real Nike shoes, they are far from wearable. His latest pair, Blazer Pentium 1.0 (named for Intel chips), weighs 15 pounds--and we're guessing the shoes don't have arch support.
See our photo gallery of Gabriel Dishaw's Nike-inspired junk art.
Tokyoflash's latest series of slick designer wristwatches features lightweight aluminum construction, LED lights, and maddeningly confusing time displays.
(Credit:
Tokyoflash)
The Kisai series inherits the qualities of previous incomprehensible Tokyoflash timepieces such as the Fire and the Pleasure Seeker, namely that users must spend hours deciphering their alien time-reckoning systems.
They certainly put one's brain to work. The Sensai model (right), which weighs 2.5 ounces and sells for about $233, tells the time after a button on its right side is pushed. The button first initiates a circular animation of colored LEDs.
When the animation stops, the hour is shown according to the number of red LEDs. So far, so good. When it comes to minutes, things get tricky.
Eleven green LEDs represent five-minute groups and four yellow LEDs represent single minutes. So, three red, two green, and two yellow equals 3:12 (editor's note: this post was updated to indicate the correct breakdown of colors; thanks to the reader who pointed the error out). Clear as mud? There's a demo here.
To watch an explanation of how another Kisai model works, click the vid below (the speaker calls the watch a "friend maker").
Now if only Tokyoflash could come up with an impenetrable Mayan Apocalypse Watch, they'd corner the market for the 2012 doomsday set.
(Credit:
Geek Stuff 4 U)
If you just gotta have USB Warm Gloves, Japanese e-tailer Thanko has finally released a new fashion model, four years later. The latest gloves (2,500 yen, $27.75) come in white with faux trimmings for a more feminine elegance. Not forgetting the tech nerds, they also come in a more conservative black without the furry bits.
Other than those cosmetic tweaks, the gloves retain the original hood so you can expose your twinky digits for more effective keyboard work. The bummer is you'll need two USB jacks to plug in and get toasty, which could be a crowd if you're pairing these with the equally dubious USB slippers.
(Source: Crave Asia via Akihabara News)
