Breakthroughs Come From Partnerships Built Upon Trust and Courage
Notes from SXSW Interactive 2017
Conductive Yarn?
Google ATAP and Levi’s came together to make Project Jacquard — or simply the first Google Trucker Jacket. It’s the first wearable tech that looks wearable yet has product features integrated into the jacket that allows you to interact with maps, messaging and phone calls via gestures with your jacket. This story has been out for a year and you can watch the video below, but the product isn’t the story we’re talking about today.
Respecting Expertise
What makes this partnership so exciting and successful is the working partnership formed between both brands in order to make this collaboration happen. Both Google and Levi’s were quick to admit that when you do a “First In the World” type-venture, you really need both partners to bring their expertise to the table. And more importantly, for each partner to respect the other’s expertise, even though it might seem counterintuitive to the way they usually work.
The invisibility of tech in the jacket is a prime example of this trust. Google engineers admit that their first instinct is to make the sensors and conductive yarn highly visible on the garment. Levi’s, staying true to the nature of the garment and the requirements of the wearer, pushed back and fought for the tech to be invisible and stay purposeful to the garment’s design (i.e. help riders be more ‘present’ and not distracted when they rode, while still looking cool).
New Ways of Working
Levi’s designers embraced processes common to tech in the process and built in testing and iteration phases for the garment, after it had gone into market. Product testing before launch is common for fashion designers, but rarely have they sought out user feedback and user data post-launch to iterate and evolve the product design.
Some people to follow from the panel:
Ivan Poupyrev, Technical Project Lead at Google
Paul Dillinger, VP of Global Innovation at Levi Strauss & CO
Listen to the talk in the link below:
