Motorola is expected to unveil a line of snowboarder-focused clothing that incorporates interactive  cell phone and portable music technology.
In a joint venture with apparel maker Burton, Motorola will create jackets featuring padded casings for cell phones and MP3 players, removable speakers in the hood, and a built-in control pad on the arm, according to press reports.
The jackets will be available in late 2005. The partnership also will produce snowboard helmets and caps.
The apparel reportedly will make use of Bluetooth connectivity so that devices can communicate with each other over short distances.
Motorola and Burton have not yet released details of how Bluetooth will be integrated or of how much the jackets will cost. But Motorola has noted that it is involved in several other similar partnerships that bring clothing and technology together, which will be announced in the coming year.
Shirt Meets Cell
The concept of integrating technology devices with clothing has been bandied about in research labs and startups for a number of years.
Most notably, the multimedia research arm of MIT, the Media Lab, has been working on an initiative to bring the two arenas together.
As part of its "wearable computing" group, the Lab first put on a fashion show in 1997 with futuristic clothing, and has since created a PC-based vest with a variety of hardware components.
Click, Click, Zip
Interest in commercialization of technology-enabled clothing has also increased, according to Scott Jordan, founder of SCOTTeVEST (SeV), which designs gadget-friendly clothing.
"Consumers are going to demand these types of items much more often," Jordan said. "People juggle a number of devices, from MP3 players to cell phones to PDAs. Today's clothes just aren't designed to hold this much stuff."
One difficulty for SeV has been in trying to get retailers to stock the clothing. "They're very risk-averse," said Jordan.
But with Motorola now in the market, it is possible that retailers will see the items as less risky. "I think you're going to see this really take off," Jordan noted.
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