Your hoodie just updated your Facebook page
Ping, the social-networking hoodie from designer Jennifer Darmour, is a concept garment that connects Facebook and fabric.
- Webby Award ("How To, Explainer, and DIY Video"); Folio Changemaker Award, 2020
Sure, you can "poke" a friend or "like" a status via your mobile phone. But that's sooo last season.
Ping, a "social-networking garment" from Seattle-based user experience designer Jennifer Darmour, is a concept hoodie that links to your Facebook account wirelessly and lets you connect to your minions by performing basic gestures.
Take off the hood, and you poke a friend. Tie the waist bow to accept a friend request. What's that? A vibration on your shoulder? You just received a new notification.
Darmour, the brain behind Ping and the site electricfoxy, is an experiential prototyper whose garments bridge real-life self expression with virtual networks. Ping sits among her many wearable technologies, including an interactive shoe that lets people run and race together even when they're miles apart.
Though there may not be widespread practical applications for wearable technology yet, it's definitely trending. We recently wrote about a solar dress that charges MP3 players, and weather dresses that reflect the climate. Bizarre? Maybe. But designers like Darmour see great potential in such fashions.
Take the Beagle Scarf, a garment designed especially for autistic children. According to Talk2MyShirt, the scarf integrates sound, smell, and texture, making it a wearable portable medical assistance device for children who suffer from a sensory disorder in which they sometimes need to be blocked or stimulated from certain senses to get relief.
It's unclear how, exactly, Ping will function, as there's clearly no typing involved. FashioningTech explains that a Facebook app will allow wearers to customize gestures to certain groups of friend.
Ping is pretty cool, but even avid Facebook users might think it's a little over the top. Any takers?