Solar-Powered Ski Jacket by Ermenegildo Zegna

It is winter time here - time for chilling temperatures, snow, but also white beauty, skiing and much fun. So, news like this could be interesting for all environmentally-conscious and geeky skiers. The first "ecological" luxury solar-powered ski jacket designed by Italian designer Ermenegildo Zegna is able to recharge your cell phone, iPod and other gadgets on the go. Italian clothing manufacturer Ermenegildo Zegna, has joined hands with a German company called Interactive Wear, a firm that specializes in "smart" textile technology, to develop the world’s first ski jacket that gets its juice from solar energy.

The jacket uses Microtene material that makes it water resistant and has integrated discreet solar cells placed in neoprene collar, which converts sunlight into renewable power to charge your electronic gadgets while you're outdoors. An hour of direct sunlight will charge up a phone for about 35 minutes of talk time. The battery requires four to five hours for a full charge. Good thing is also that you can take off the collar anytime, so you can use it to charge your gadgets even when you are back at home.

Although this jacket doesn't seem to be very innovative, since it looks like they’ve just stitched a couple of solar cells into the jacket’s collar, I think that all trials in the field of "intelligent" clothing deserve our attention and should be admired. And it is one more opportunity to promote your green ideas to the world, well... if you can afford it - Zegna Sport Solar Ski Jacket retails for about $1,350 at all Ermenegildo Zegna boutiques.

www.zegna.com