Smartphone-charging jeans put a battery over your butt
Juice up your smartphone with a special pair of designer denims built with charging pockets right above the rump.
Tech Culture
August 13, 2015 12:54 PM PDT
by Amanda Kooser @akooser
Until scientists figure out how to harness electricity from twerking, fashionistas will have to make do with Joe's Jeans' #HELLO line of phone-charging pants.
The jeans have a slim battery pocket sewn near the waistband in the back along with an additional smartphone pocket located partly behind the right-hand butt pocket.
Joe's Jeans hopes its fashion-forward phone friends will stroll around with a battery installed and their phones charging up near their rears. This isn't much different from powering up your phone using any old external battery pack. What's new and weird and fun is having it all built into a special pair of trousers.
As strange as the system might seem, the designers made a smart move in angling the smartphone pocket off to the side, toward the hip. That means you don't put a lot of pressure on your phone when you sit down, like you would if it was in a regular back pocket. You may find wearing a belt strapped over the battery to be a little awkward, however.
The #HELLO jeans are only available in women's skinny-fit styles. In a world where pockets on women's clothing seem to be shrinking to nothingness, a couple of extra places to stash your stuff could be welcomed by tech-addicated fashion fans.
Each pair of fancy pants will set you back $189 (about £121, AU$ 257). The designer denim is not sold with the battery included. You'll need to buy it separately for $49 (about £31, AU$67). The slim silver battery comes with Micro-USB and iPhone-compatible charging cables, and promises to charge an iPhone up to at least 70 percent. It measures 3.75 inches (9.5 centimeters) long and is sized to fit right into the special waistband pocket on the pants.
Now you just have to decide if you're willing to pay designer-denim prices for the convenience of charging your phone on your backside.
