Sydney-based Wearable Experiments (We:eX) describe themselves as a “socially driven wearable technology company”. With their latest offering, the Navigate jacket, they seem to be close to their mission of producing fashion tech with a functional design aesthetic.
The Navigate is a (via your cellphone) GPS-enabled jacket that many would wear even if the battery died, which is exactly what fashion tech should be. The beautifully made jacket has LEDs embedded into the white ribbon stripes on the sleeves that light up one-by-one the closer you are to your destination. Vibration motors in the shoulders tell you if you should turn left or right.
It’s great to see a design-led approach to wearable tech. Want one? It looks like the jackets are being offered bespoke only, by registering an interest on their website. And if you think you may have heard of Wearable Experiments before, you’re probably right. Fashioning Tech blogger Carly Whitaker included their Fundawear, long-distance intimate apparel in her April 2013 Wearable Tech Roundup.