Gear-Friendly Fashion
Getting through my day carrying an arsenal of electronics is not the easiest thing but these days it seems that everyone has a mobile phone, MP3 player, and digital camera yet, unfortunately, they are not all available within the same device! Come on manufacturers, it's almost 2008 and our gadgets should be converged and our cars hovering! But I digress.
You can stuff all of this techno-gear into a backpack, but that that doesn't make for a very agile solution. For years, I have been a huge fan of cargo pants and their extra pockets, but SCOTTEVEST/SeV® has taken this versatility to a whole new level of clever design. I spent some time wearing a trifecta of SeV clothing, or what they call Gear Management SolutionsTM - from my head to my waist and compiled a rundown of what you can expect from it.
Gear-ready Clothing
Starting at the top, the clothing maker's trademarked "Greatest Ball Cap Ever!" provides two pockets for storing small items such as a key or two and some credit cards or cash. The best part about this location on your dome is that most criminals should never think to look inside of a hat for valuables, but the worst thing would be having your hat blown off. Under the cap's bill, a panel of cloth just big enough to insert a couple of keys is held closed with Velcro, the amazing hook and loop fastener invention of 1941.
A second pocket is located on the right side and is closed with an external zipper providing access to a space made between the cloth and internal mesh lining in one of the pie-shaped segments of the cap. Looking through the mesh inside, it is easy to spot what's stored within and there is enough space to hold a half dozen credit cards and an ID. If you tend to lose your hat a lot, you can use one of the pair of integrated headphone holding loops (used to keep your ear buds in place) to tie the hat to your jacket.
Next down the torso was the Performance T-Shirt made of moisture wicking active wear. This shirt did a great job on the golf course, keeping me cool, dry and my skin from being chaffed when swinging the clubs, even after I loaded it up with business cards for some "on-the-links business networking." These cards fir inside a pocket in the lower right torso, and I stored my ID, credit cards and cash in the nearly-hidden pocket found under the left collarbone. I say "nearly-hidden" as the zipper hanging on the front is the giveaway that something is lurking within. If you chose to put a MP3 player or mobile phone into this pocket, you would be able to control the device through the fabric, which is a nice touch. This pocket too, has the necessary hole for audio cables and loop-hooks for the headphone cable under either side of the collar.
I also tried on SeV's Ultimate Hoodie Microfleece which was so soft, it was difficult to keep a girlfriend's hands off of it-lucky for me, until she tried to keep it for herself. I liked its nearly see-through arm pocket which can hold a small MP3 player like an iPod Nano, along with the ability to route the headphone cable through its hole within the sleeve. Along the inside of the main zipper, were small Velcro fasteners to pinch a headphone cable within and keep them from tangling. More Velcro cable guides are at the base of the hood, along with ear bud loops to keep the speakers from working their way out and falling down the jacket.
For hard drive-based MP3 players, a pocket placed over the heart area is large enough to hold both sunglasses and a larger device like a video iPod. Again a port-hole in this pocket, this one with a rubber grommet, allows you to route headphone cables without the risk of damaging your cables or fraying the cloth. For those of you who still work in the analog world, a pen holder is also stitched beside this pocket-making for quick access if you are required to sign autographs frequently.
The hoodie features standard pockets for your hands, but these pockets utilize magnets to hold them closed, as opposed to other fasteners such as Velcro or snaps found on most clothing. Within the left side, a divider is sewn to the left pocket to keep items from sliding around. Inside the right-hand pocket is an elastic strap to hold something tight like a flashlight or water bottle, and a coiled plastic cord with a snap ring will hang onto your keys. A tiny hidden Velcro-closed pocket within could hold something needed in an emergency such as money from your parents.
Finally, at the waist, come the Ultimate Cargo Pants. These pants had 20 pockets; that's right, 20! The pants included not one, but two pockets for each hand, with the mid-front and rear pockets held closed by magnets. You may need to use some caution with credit cards and hotel keys which could become erased if they get too close to these magnets. One of the front pockets has an additional hidden zipper pocket, while another has a quick release key-holder. GPS devices, binoculars, phones, digital cameras, thumb drives, pens and loose change will have no problem finding a home within these. Thankfully, the pants come with helpful cards placed within each crevasse to help you with ideas as to what they can hold.
The pants are a mostly linen and cotton blend and the legs, which to no surprise contain a pocket beside the shin, can un-zip into shorts for instant air-conditioning. There are even pockets that you can use for the legs, so you can hang onto them when it gets cold. Loading these up with gear is going to create a weight situation that is solved with two draw-strings and integrated nylon webbing that becomes its own belt. If they start to work their way down your legs, pull the strings tight and lock them in place until dinner, when you can let them out again.
If you have so much gear that you need to wear all of this SeV clothing at once, just to manage your gadget armada, then I am impressed. You typically would wear one or two of these at a time and they all get my stamp of approval.
SCOTTEVEST's CEO Scott Jordan says that "Before long, all clothing will have adaptation of the Technology Enabled Clothing® system." While this may be a bold statement, as my socks should stay clear of my MP3 player, the company is licensing their patented Personal Area Network to other clothing manufacturers for them to incorporate the features. This makes a bit of sense actually as clothing has not changed much, outside of style, in hundreds of years yet we now carry much more on our person than we did just a handful of years ago. Scott may just be onto a digital tailored revolution.
Dave Mathews, the "Gadget Guy," tries to be fashionable in San Francisco, where it is better to feel good than to look good. More technology stories can be found at www.davemathews.com.
© 2008, Young Money Media, LLC. All rights reserved.
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