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

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00:00How much did you pay for your current iPhone?

00:03If it's a newer one, probably a few hundred and possibly upward of $1,000.

00:08Now, Apple wants you to dress up that phone with a designer pocket that's got the internet talking.

00:18Renowned Japanese fashion brand Issey Miyake has teamed up with Apple to create what they call the iPhone Pocket.

00:25The short strap version costs $149, and the long strap version costs $229.

00:33Online, the reactions were just as colorful as the pockets themselves.

00:38One Reddit user wrote,

00:39At that price, for this phone sock, Apple is the actual thief,

00:44in response to some worried about people snatching phones out of the pocket.

00:48Another user on X said they just asked their grandma to make one for them.

00:52Before you judge, we spoke with Hazel Clark,

00:56professor 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.

01:05Issey Miyake, as a brand and formerly as the late designer,

01:10has a lot of reputation and credibility.

01:14They've been around since the 1970s.

01:16It's not just the name either.

01:18These pockets are made with a signature 3D knit fabric.

01:22Clark says that material choice is a nod to the brand's history of textile innovation.

01:28That 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,

01:39where Miyake was collaborating with a textile innovator and designer called Dai Fujiwara.

01:45So that and the principle there was that you knitted these sort of tubes of cloth and then could cut them.

01:53And whether we admit it or not,

01:55Apple products have been treated like fashion items for years.

01:59People debate the colors and the finishes.

02:01Just look at Pinterest pages.

02:03They're full of Apple products and aesthetic mood boards next to coffee cups and outfits of the day.

02:09Clark says that's exactly 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 of looks new.

02:19So they're very design savvy.

02:21This is not new for them.

02:22This is just an extension of what they do and what they do well.

02:26Apple's press release said the idea was born from the idea of creating an additional pocket.

02:31And if you think wearing your phone is new, it's certainly not.

02:35Back in the day when we first had phones, people were actually wearing them in pockets.

02:41I remember this in the 90s.

02:42There's another layer to all of this, which is purses.

02:46Clark says the iPhone pocket isn't as far from tradition as it seems.

02:50Purses began as pockets.

02:53Pockets that were worn under women's garments and then they were worn on the outside.

02:57So it's really going, you know, it's going back to that functional nature of pockets.

03:02The new iPhone pocket is available for purchase November 14th and will only be available in certain countries, the U.S. included.

03:11As 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 brown.

03:20I mean, technically my favorite color is pink.

03:22I suppose you could probably benefit from more than one.

03:24But when it comes to my clothes, my closet is more of a neutral vibe.

03:28I literally only wear earth tone colors.

03:31For more on this story and others, head over to san.com or download our mobile app.

03:35I'm Kennedy Felton with Straight Arrow News.

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