Want Clothes to Fit Your Electrical Lifestyle?

In some people's quests to be more gadget and clothing savvy than the next person, some clothing retailers have already caught on to this game.

The latest trend among some clothing makers is to come up with clothing that will allow people to charge their cell phones or contain slits for iPod or other electrical device cords. The only problem is that most of these products levels of success in the market banks on how much of a gadget geek individuals really are.

The company Quiksilver has enabled some of their clothing with Bluetooth technology for the use of cell phones or iPods. The company's Double Daffy Snow jacket is one example of this. It will be available in stores in September and will cost just under $400.

Scottevest actually sells a vest that has a bunch of pockets to hold people's MP3 players and other gadgets' wiring so that it cannot be seen from the outside. The company introduced a jacket two years ago that can charge cell phones and iPods and costs around $425.

Even children's clothing is not immune to this latest craze. Gapkids and the company Wild Planet created a jacket called the Hoodio. The product was launched in November of 2004 and features a built-in radio for a fleece jacket. It sold in stores for about $70.

While it seems incredibly cool and trendy to be able to walk around everywhere in clothing that supports your electronic lifestyle or be under water listening to your music (as with Billabong and Freestyle Audio's $500 waterproof wetsuit), is there much necessity for these products?

Other than showing off the fact that you can recharge something with you vest or be able to walk around the streets with you iPod and MP3 players safely stowed away, these items are more novelty than they are a necessity.

Plus, no company has come out with a whole line of clothing that offers these features. Who is going to wear the same jacket or vest everyday? No one. This means that most of the items mentioned above basically become obsolete once spring and summer hit. There is no use for a thermal vest or jacket come 80-degree weather.

Basically, these products are geared toward one type of consumer: the sucker. With over $300 price tags for most of these items, who else would waste their money on such non-utilitarian items? Unless you have a lot of money to spend (waste?), then there is no point in investing in these products.