This futuristic jacket isn’t just designed to keep you warm. It’s an extension of your phone.

    Designed by Levi’s and Google, the interactive trucker jacket uses high-tech conductive fabric* to connect to a smartphone.

    With the brush of a sleeve, users can pause or skip a song or use Google maps without the hassle of getting a phone out.

    This connected denim* jacket will cost around US$350 when it goes on sale this autumn.

    The product is called Commuter Trucker Jacket. It is the first commercial product created by a small Google team called Advanced Technology and Projects who is using Jacquard* technology to create smart conductive fabric which connects to electronic devices.

    A tag, which is the size of a button, connects the conductive yarns* in the jacket’s cuff to an electronic device.

    The data can be sent wirelessly to smartphones or other devices, enabling actions such as making phone calls or sending messages with brushes of fabric. It has similar functions to a smart watch except it’s less conspicuous*.

    Remove the tag, and the entire garment is washable and durable, like regular denim. Jacquard yarns are indistinguishable from the traditional yarns. The yarn structure combines thin, metallic alloys* with natural and synthetic* yarns like cotton, polyester*, or silk, making the yarn strong enough to be woven on any industrial loom. Anything involving fabric, from suits or dresses to furniture or carpet, could potentially have computer touch-pad style control capabilities woven.(SD-Agencies)