Clevertex - Grado Zero Espace Srl

player. Songs can be chosen and volume altered by pressing the soft keys on the sleeve, without the
need to access the iPod itself [66].
Further, the ElekTex ® fabric touchpad has been used by several companies to launch jackets and
backpacks. For example the American apparel manufacturer Kenpo Inc, used the ElekTex ® in a men’s
jacket for the winter season 2005/2006.
Also O’Neill uses ElekTex ® in its range of H2 series backpacks and jackets. More examples can be
found in [38].
Recently, Burton Snowboards and Motorola Inc. launched a series of Bluetooth-enabled winter
jackets, the Burton Audex Snowboard jackets. In the sleeve of the jacket one can find an integrated
control panel, which allows remote operation of the wearer’s phone or iPod. Additionally, the jacket
features integrated stereo speakers in the hood, a microphone and chest/battery module embedded
within the inside pocket of the jacket. However, these components still stay hard plastic devices.
Fig. 24 The Burton Audex TM Snowboard jacket [67]
In the drawing above the Audex components are illustrated, which get attached to the jacket. The
wearer must ensure that the components are not exposed to moisture and thus they must be carefully
removed before washing. The jacket is available in three different styles as a cargo jacket, a down
jacket and a duffle jacket for woman. All three styles can be bought for $599.95 at the Burton website
[67].
Together with a designer of the University of Applied Sciences in Berlin and Hugo Boss, the
Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration (IZM) has developed a communications jacket.
It shows how electronics can be integrated into clothing and illustrates the idea of separating the
input/output devices from the intelligent part of the system. The latter allows further miniaturising the
intelligent part while the system remains usable in terms of display size and keypad size. The purely
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