The “Navigate Jacket” Makes Smartphones Obsolete

When was the last time you used a map? With smartphones taking over the world, you only need to tap your screens to know which way to go. However, there is a big problem with smartphones––as designer Billie Whitehouse noticed when she lived in New York. With smartphones’ navigator apps, you constantly need to look down to know where and when to make turns. The consequences of looking down while you’re walking can range from a small bump to a disastrous collision. Fortunately, Whitehouse came up with a way to use a navigator without using your eyes or your hands––that is, by wearing it.

Wearable technology at the GSMA-360Fashion & Tech Runway Show 2014 in Shanghai

The field of wearable technology has had some incredible breakthroughs in recent years. You can now have a computer on your wrist, as eyewear, or embedded in your clothes. Billie Whitehouse came up with a jacket that provides haptic feedback through an embedded electronic device. The device taps the wearer on the left or right shoulder when it’s time to turn, and double taps both shoulders when they have arrived at the desired destination. The Navigate Jacket by Billie Whitehouse also looks just like any other jacket, with the electronic device expertly hidden from view.

“Wearable technology should be invisible,” Whitehouse said. “And you’ll be able to see things around you with your own eyes, instead of looking at the world through a screen.”

With the Navigate Jacket, Whitehouse hopes that her customers won’t miss the real world while making full use of the virtual one.

Billie Whitehouse’s design, along with other designers’ wearable technology, is currently on display at Pratt Institute’s Brooklyn Fashion and Design Accelerator in an exhibit called, Cloud Couture. You can see the exhibit until Feb. 12th, and schedule tours by appointment.