Fashion Design Meets Technology with Levi Strauss iPod Jeans

Apple Computer, Inc. has established itself as one of the top digital music players in the industry with its iPod. A number of fashion design companies, including Levi Strauss, have subsequently tried to get onto iPod's coattails with iPod-friendly clothing.

Levi's "Wired" Jeans

People love their portable iPods and want to carry them everywhere. Fashion design business Levi Strauss has designed a pair of jeans to house the iPod in the watch pocket. The Levi's RedWire DLX jeans pocket also features a joystick that allows the jeans-wearer to operate the iPod. Available this fall, the jeans for men and women have a built-in docking cradle for the iPod and retractable headphones. How's that for fashion merchandising innovation?

Fashion Design for iPods

Other businesses in fashion merchandising have already blazed down this trail. In 2003, Burton Snowboards created a waterproof snowboarding jacket that was iPod-compatible. In the fall of 2005, Kenpo started selling men's jackets with iPod controls on the sleeves. Gucci made an iPod sling, a carrying case with leather trim and silver clasps. So long as iPod continues to be so popular, fashion designers will likely continue to design clothing and accessories around it.

Fashion Merchandising Via Online College Degree

There's no doubt that iPod continues to make a splash in technology, as well as fashion design. If you have a passion for fashion design or merchandising, an online college degree could be a great avenue to pursue a fashion career. You can proceed at your own pace, learning about fashion merchandising while going to school online for your college degree.

Fashion merchandising involves not just the design but the whole business of selling fashion items. Attending a fashion merchandising school online to get a college degree will give you the broad knowledge base to enter into the business through a number of job paths. Perhaps someday you'll come up with a great fashion design idea, merging form and function like Levi's iPod jeans.

Sources
Levi's Jeans Press Release
iPod All the Rage in High Fashion

About the Author
James Tolles is the Managing Editor for hq|publications. He is a freelance writer and holds two B.A. degrees, one in Creative Writing and the other in History.