Is This Really the “Smartest Jacket Ever”?

It’s got enough tech to make the Swiss Army jealous

June 29, 2016 9:00 am

The claim is a tall one: “the smartest jacket ever.” A jacket so impeccably designed and Swiss-army versatile that it’ll make the rest of your collection irrelevant.

Its name: the EveryWear jacket, an all-in-one piece of outerwear for “urban heroes.”

Well, then. Let’s review.

The jacket, now on Kickstarter, offers up to 20 different unique features, including a hidden anti-rain mask, an integrated power bank, a back pocket big enough for a laptop, LED lights and interwoven optical fibers. But it’s not too tech-friendly: the coat also has RFID-blocking pockets.

It was designed to suit the most unpleasant weather conditions, utilizing waterproof and windproof material (as well as an anti-cut aramid fiber fabric insert the designers compare with kevlar), reflective panels, an umbrella holder and hidden gloves — and it even transforms into a backpack for when the weather warms up … albeit a somewhat unusual looking one.

The founders claim EveryWear’s “classy yet casual” style can be, with a few simple adjustments, worn as an anorak, bomber, short hooded or long jacket. Overall, it seems best suited for, say, cyclists in unpredictable weather.

And a pledge of just $153 to their Kickstarter will make you one of the first wearers to put it to the test.

Can $153 really buy you a jacket that can compete with, say, these ones?

Only one way to find out.

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