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Levi's wants to put Google's touch-sensitive fabric inside your jeans

Levi's wants to put Google's touch-sensitive fabric inside your jeans

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The incredibly cool touch-sensitive fabric that Google's ATAP unit is demonstrating here at I/O 2015 won't be limited to Mountain View's labs. Levi's just announced that it's partnering with Google to turn Project Jacquard into proper fashion. "We’ve got the genius pirates at ATAP who can help us develop and deliver this platform," said Paul Dillinger of Levi Strauss, pointing to Levi's own expertise in fabric development and supply chain as the other ingredients that can put Google's technology inside a future pair of jeans. Dilliginer referred to Jacquard as a "dazzling opportunity" for a partnership between the two companies.

And Dillinger said it's all about lessening distraction as we try to balance real-world interactions with our digital lives. "If there’s a chance to enable the clothes that we already love to help us facilitiate access to the best and most necessary of this digital world while maintaining eye contact with the person we're eating dinner with, this is a real value. If we can deliver that value in the form of clothes that you as friends and fans of this brand already love, that is a project worth doing." Levi's and Google aren't yet saying when you'll be able to buy a touch-sensitive pair of 501s, but the possibilities — and the fact that a true pact exists — is pretty exciting.

Verge Video: Hands-on with Google's touch-sensitive fabricDeveloping. Check out our Google I/O Live Blog for the latest updates and our Google hub for all the news!