Apple’s $230 iPhone Pocket taps into a bigger story on fashion, functionality

Watch Apple’s $230 iPhone Pocket taps into a bigger story on fashion, functionality - Straight Arrow News on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00How much did you pay for your current iPhone? If it's a newer one, probably a few hundred and

00:05possibly upward of $1,000. Now, Apple wants you to dress up that phone with a designer pocket

00:13that's got the internet talking. Renowned Japanese fashion brand Issey Miyake has teamed up with

00:22Apple to create what they call the iPhone Pocket. The short strap version costs $149

00:28and the long strap version costs $229. Online, the reactions were just as colorful as the

00:37pockets themselves. One Reddit user wrote, at that price, for this phone sock, Apple is the actual

00:43thief in response to some worried about people snatching phones out of the pocket. Another user

00:48on X said they just asked their grandma to make one for them. Before you judge, we spoke with Hazel

00:55Clark, professor of design and fashion studies at the Parsons School of Design in New York.

01:01And she says this is not as outlandish as it may sound. Issey Miyake as a brand and formerly as

01:08the late designer has a lot of reputation and credibility. They've been around since the 1970s.

01:16It's not just the name either. These pockets are made with a signature 3D knit fabric. Clark says

01:23that material choice is a nod to the brand's history of textile innovation.

01:27That particular technique was interesting because it was introduced by the Issey Miyake brand,

01:34I think in 1997, under this initiative called a piece of cloth, where Miyake was collaborating

01:40with a textile innovator and designer called Dai Fujiwara. So that, and the principle there was that

01:49you knitted these sort of tubes of cloth and then could cut them.

01:53And whether we admit it or not, Apple products have been treated like fashion items for years.

01:59People debate the colors and the finishes. Just look at Pinterest pages. They're full of Apple

02:04products and aesthetic mood boards next to coffee cups and outfits of the day. Clark says that's

02:10exactly why this collaboration makes sense.

02:13When they bring out a new phone, it's not just the features, but it's the fact that it kind

02:18of looks new. So they're, they're very design savvy. This is not new for them. This is just an

02:22extension of what they do and what they do well. Apple's press release said the idea was born from

02:28the idea of creating an additional pocket. And if you think wearing your phone is new,

02:34it's certainly not. Back in the day when we first had, um, phones, people were actually wearing

02:40them in pockets. I remember this in the nineties. There's another layer to all of this, which is

02:45purses. Clark says the iPhone pocket isn't as far from tradition as it seems.

02:50Purses began as pockets, pockets that were worn under women's garments and then they're worn on

02:56the outside. So it's really going, you know, it's going back to that functional nature of, of,

03:02of pockets. The new iPhone pocket is available for purchase November 14th and it will only be

03:08available in certain countries, the U S included. As for me, I'll stick to my regular purses,

03:14but if anyone's feeling generous this holiday season, my favorite color for accessories is

03:19Brown. I mean, technically my favorite color is pink. I suppose you could probably benefit

03:23from more than one, but when it comes to my clothes, my closet is more of a neutral vibe.

03:28I literally only wear earth tone colors for more on this story and others head over to

03:33san.com or download our mobile app. I'm Kennedy Fulton with straight arrow news.