Dock your iPod here
Levis ©

A small joystick stitched into the jeans allows wearers to control their iPod without removing it from the protective pocket.
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By Bianca D'Angelo, Rocky Mountain News
October 9, 2006
Ipod users are in for an extra-technological treat with the debut of Levi's iPod-compatible jeans, the RedWire DLX.

Think of it - jeans designed to allow the wearer to control their iPod while also being fashionable.

But there's a price for this convenience, beginning with the $250 cost.

The jeans are available for men and women (juniors' sizes), with a loose fit and straight leg. But you have to like blue denim; that's the only color available.

As for the electronics, I didn't know a pair of jeans could house such things. Forget putting your iPod into whatever pocket is handy, or strapping it to your arm.

Levi's designers have stitched a docking cradle into the jeans to securely hold the iPod. The cradle is equipped with a "red conductive ribbon" that connects to the iPod, allowing for ease of play and quick and easy access to view the device.

A joystick is stitched into the jeans, several inches above the docking cradle. With the joystick, users can play/pause, track forward and backward and adjust volume, all without removing the device from the cradle.

Tired of getting tangled up in the headphone wire? Levi's has solved that with a built-in, retractable headphone. Controlling the length of wire is as easy as, well, pull and release.

And the jeans are machine washable - just remember to remove the electronics first.

The test

When Levi's sent the Rocky Mountain News a pair of the jeans to review, I was among one of the few people in the world who didn't own an iPod. But I had friends who owned iPods and could be test subjects.

My friend Mark was a perfect candidate (this was a men's pair of jeans, after all) because he not only owns an iPod, but a super iPod. You know, the ones with 60GB and the ability to hold more songs, movies and videos than anyone could possibly watch or listen to in their lifetime.

Mark, a tech-savvy individual, had things set up in under five minutes and agreed that familiarity with iPods helps in hooking up the device to the jeans. He also said the cradle was in a great location, said the joystick feature was "simple and accessible," and he appreciated the convenience of the retractable wire headphones. A motorcyclist, his No. 1 priority - by far - was how motorcycle-friendly the jeans were.

"Before I would have to put my iPod in a pocket or strap it to my arm," he said. "But the jeans provide easy access to the controls while riding."

Mark did say he thought the joystick feature should include a hold button because he did bump the control a few times, causing the iPod to jump to the next song. He also said the headphone wire may not be long enough for someone with a long torso, on top of the fact the sound quality wasn't as good as the headphones that came with his iPod (the headphones, in fact, have been noted as the least desirable feature of the RedWire by other reviewers). So spring for a better pair of headphones.

A bit pricey

And then there's the cost. I think the words Mark used were, "The price ($250) is pretty steep for a pair of jeans."

Which begs the question of how long you could expect these jeans (and the electronics) to last. The jeans only hit the retail market recently, so there's no answer to that yet.

Mark washed the jeans and said they didn't fade and didn't shrink, but it was tricky to pull the ribbon back through the main pocket to the docking cradle. That took him about five minutes.

The verdict?

"I would definitely buy them if they weren't so expensive," Mark said. "I like the style. The jeans are really comfortable and the iPod electronics are a real bonus."