Project Jacquard: Google and Levi’s to launch world’s first pair of “smart” jeans

Google is to team up with Levi’s to manufacture the world’s first pair of “smart” jeans. The digital denim will be made using a revolutionary new fabric interwoven with conductive material. 

 

The firms have not revealed exactly what the jeans will be capable of, but the technology can be used to interact with smartphones and tablets – sending messages, for instance – simply by swiping the fabric.

 

The partnership is the first commercial application of Google’s Project Jacquard, which was shown at the firm’s I/O 2015 developers’ conference last week. Levi’s expect the jeans to ship in 2016.

 

Google impressed conference-goers with a demonstration of its new Project Soli, a tiny radar capable of tracking the movements of your hands. The technology promises to advance the growing market for devices that we can communicate with using gestures. 

 

It also announced new features for the upcoming version of its Android mobile operating system, including an overhaul of the way it will allow payments to be made.